And Everything Twice
by StarKai88
Summary: INDEFINITE HIATUS. Bella is a young, quirky, single mother to twins who occasionally has a propensity to act like a child herself. As a 3rd grade teacher, Edward works well with children. "Do you normally make a habit of hanging upside-down on the monkey bars, Miss Swan?"
1. Monkey Bars and Purple Princess Shoes

**A/N**: Welcome everyone! *crickets* Anyone?

Kidding… I hope. Anyway, this is my new story. I've been wanting to see a plot like this and couldn't get it out of my head, so here it is. Hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - Monkey Bars and Purple Princess Shoes<strong>

**Edward**

Not only was the weather perfect for a Saturday morning to be spent in the park reading, but the free entertainment of watching its occupants between chapters definitely added to the perfection.

Currently, I was observing an overwhelmed father trying to catch his very sassy daughter as she ran from him, heading toward a shallow swamp where a family of ducks were residing. This ongoing chase had been happening for the last half hour, with the father trying to keep his 4-ish-year-old under control while she made that increasingly impossible for him. Just as he was hot on her trail, the girl ran undeterred into the swamp, thus ruining her white sundress and causing the father to drop his head in defeat. I had the feeling that he had his daughter's mother to report to when they arrived home and that he was not looking forward to that moment.

I chuckled to myself. This was something I saw quite often in my line of work, so you'd think I'd be used to it, but tantrums and mishaps that I'm not involved in are always a knee-slapper.

I turned back to my book to continue reading, but paused when I heard the tinkling laughter of what sounded like a group of toddlers. Turning my head to find the source, I realized that I was wrong. While there were two little ones giggling, there was also a third giggler who was not a toddler at all. In fact, she appeared to be in her early twenties, and yet she was hanging upside-down from her knees on the monkey bars grabbing at the aforementioned toddlers, a girl and a boy, who stood below her playfully tugging at her long brown hair hanging down.

"Guys, for real, stop! Cease and desist! I'm gonna fall!" she yelled in between laughs. They continued their tugging, while the women flailed her arms in an effort to stop them, unsurprisingly resulting in her falling to the ground with a thud. I quickly sat down my book and headed over to the now wide-eyed toddlers and whom I assumed was their nanny, moving to sit cross-legged, holding a hand to her head, and mumbling to the ground.

"Ugh. Not cool, guys. Not cool." They both scrambled to her side, looking a little worried and a lot innocent.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I approached. She snapped her head up, obviously just realizing someone other than the kids had witnessed her fall, dusted off her worn jeans, and smiled at me hesitantly.

"Oh. Yeah….no, I'm fine. No big deal. This is actually the second time this has happened, and I'm really clumsy as it is, so I guess I should've known better. And at least the fall was cushioned by…" she looked down and cringed, "…rocks. Really? Why would they put rocks under monkey bars?" she quickly looked back up as if just remembering I was standing there. "Thanks, though...for coming over and checking."

"It's no problem at all," I smiled.

She turned to the toddlers who were now sitting on her lap, one on each side, and narrowed her eyes, "What's the deal, bugs? Are you _trying_ to give me a concussion?"

"Whas _dat_?" the little girl looked up at the woman, curious.

She reached down and tucked a light-brown curl that escaped the little girl's ponytail behind her ear, "That, Lola, is when Mommy has to go to the hospital so the doctors can fix her head." That surprised me. _So she's their mother._ _Wow_.

I must not have hidden my shock well, because her mouth pulled up on one side and she offered her hand to shake, "I'm Bella Swan, and these two monsters trying to kill me, are Lola and Brady."

Lola and Brady chuckled at that description. I bent down and shook Bella's hand, as well as Brady and Lola's, "Edward Cullen. It's very nice to meet you all." I turned back to look at Bella when the kids took that as their cue to run off and play a few feet away, "Do you normally make a habit of hanging upside-down on the monkey bars, Miss Swan?"

Her smile widened and she blew a piece of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes out of her face, "Only when the occasion calls for it. As for just now, we were pretending to be monkeys, so I certainly think the monkey bars were an acceptable choice. The name isn't just a coincidence, you know."

"Ah," I nodded, "That does make sense. Although I don't know that I've ever seen real monkeys playing on monkey bars."

"Well, you don't know that they wouldn't if they were supplied with them," she countered.

"Good point," I grinned, "Need a hand?" She was still sitting on the ground, so I offered her my hand this time and she took it. "You're sure you don't actually have a concussion? You fell pretty hard."

"Nah, I'm good. At least I didn't black-out this time," she said, completely serious. I looked at her incredulously, but she just smiled and walked over to where the kids were tugging back and forth on a bat. "Hey now, there's no need to fight. One can throw while the other hits," Brady raised his hand in the air toward Lola, "…with the bat! Hits with the _bat_. Brady-bug, you're up to bat and Lola, you throw the ball."

I followed Bella and knelt down when we reached them, "You guys like playing baseball?" They both smiled and nodded. "I do too! I'm even the coach of a baseball team." Confusion colored their faces. I tried again, "I teach kids how to play baseball."

Their faces lit up and they said "wow" at the same time. _Adorable_. Then Lola turned and threw the ball, hitting Brady in the head.

"Lola-bug! Frow at da bat, not mys head, silly," he whined to a giggling Lola while rubbing his brown hair over where he was hit.

"What am I gonna do with you guys? Huh?" Bella jokingly asked, poking them in their bellies and inciting more giggles and squeals, "You're too goofy to be mine."

"You goofy, too, Ma!" exclaimed Brady.

"Uh-huh!" Lola agreed. They continued on with their faux-game of baseball, where they basically just threw the ball in random directions and attempted to avoid getting hit when the other swung the bat. It was then that I noticed…

"Bella, is your son wearing purple princess shoes?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah. Dude walked straight into the deepest puddle ever created and it soaked through the shoes he came in. All I had in the car was an extra pair of Lola's," she shrugged.

That made me laugh, "Well, purple shoes or not, your children are adorable. Twins, I take it?" I glanced back at them, amused and impressed at their ability to communicate with each other so well despite their young age. Lola was currently explaining to a very interested Brady how to make the grass fly up when you swing at it with the bat really hard.

"Yep. They're about 2 ½ years old. And thank you, I happen to think they're pretty charming," she grinned, "I'm not biased or anything."

"No, not at all." _They definitely get their charm from her._

There was no denying that they had good genes coming their way, too, because Bella is absolutely beautiful. Her deep brown eyes and pale-complexion, along with her sweet smile and long, wavy hair could just about take your breath away. It did mine.

"So, what age?"

That brought me back to reality, and I realized that I had been not-so-subtly staring at her. I shook my head, "Huh?"

"Your baseball team. What age do you coach?"

"Oh, right. Well, the ages kind of vary. It's a group of kids from one of the special education classes at the school I teach at, so they range from about 7 to 11. The teacher of the class and I are good friends, so we co-coach the team together. We're the Forks Foxes," I proudly explained.

She seemed genuinely interested, "That's awesome! Do you guys have any games coming up? Lola and Brady would love to watch…" she paused, then started backpedaling, "I mean…sorry, was that rude? To invite myself? My brain-to-mouth filter is kind of lacking," she scrunched up her nose in this cute little way that reminded me of a baby bunny.

"Are you kidding me? We love an audience! The more the merrier." Her shoulders relaxed and her smile returned. _Silly girl_. "We actually have a game tomorrow at noon, in the field at this park."

"Really? And you're sure it's okay if we come?"

"Absolutely. It's a good time all around. Some of the parents even bring food and drinks and grill hot dogs, so there's the added bonus of free food, too." All of a sudden I really wanted to see her tomorrow, so I pulled out the big guns: enticing her with a free meal, something I doubted a mother of twins could resist.

"Alright, it's a date," she lowered her head and I was pretty sure I saw the beginnings of a blush, "I mean, we'll be there." Her finger nails were suddenly very interesting to her. Finally, she looked up, "So, you teach?" I nodded. "Aren't you, like, too young for that?"

I laughed, "I don't know. Do you think 24 is too young? Teaching 3rd grade only requires your typical 4-year degree, you know," I said, teasing her a bit.

"Right…yeah. I knew that."

I could tell she was still embarrassed, so I tried to steer the conversation toward her, "I mean, look at you. You can't be more than 23, and yet you have two endearing little toddlers and, from what I can see, you seem to be a great mother."

Her head whipped up with a scowl set in place, "What's that supposed to mean? You don't think young women are usually good mothers?"

"What? No! That's not what I meant!" Now I was the one embarrassed, "You're great…I mean, I don't…I'm sure there's a lot of young…"

Her scowl slowly transformed into a smug smile, "I'm kidding, Edward. I'm quite aware of the stereotypes that go along with being a young mother, but nonetheless, I know that's not what you meant. And you're right, I'm actually 22."

I let out a relieved sigh. _She's teasing _me_ now_.

"That was not nice, Bella. You know, now that I think about it, maybe the stands _will_ be too full for you guys tomorrow…" I tapped my chin as if really considering this.

"Ha, ha," she deadpanned. Her attention was then directed back to what the twins were doing, "Lola-bug, _seriously_? Grass is not salad; you are not supposed to eat it. Didn't we _just_ go over this yesterday?"

Brady and Lola cracked up, yelling "Yummy!" and "Mmmm", respectively.

Bella began muttering under her breath, "I don't get it. It's a chore to get them to eat their vegetables on a daily basis, and yet grass is considered a Saturday morning treat. Weird kids…"

I cleared my throat and smiled, grabbing her attention again. "So, tomorrow, then? I'll see you guys there?"

"Yes," she smiled, "We'll see you there. Hopefully all with gender-appropriate shoes, but you never know…"

"Hey," I interrupted, "Ain't nothin' wrong with purple princess shoes."

That made her laugh, "I totally agree."

We were both interrupted this time by a pair of squeals and one loud, booming voice.

"Where's my trouble twins?"

Bella turned her head and smiled at the huge man racing toward the kids. My heart dropped in that moment, realizing who it probably was.

_Why hadn't I even considered that she was taken? I mean, obviously they have to have a father. And why would Bella be single? From what I've seen so far, she's amazing and beautiful and witty. Did she have a ring on? I didn't even think to check…_

"Edward?" Bella pulled me out of my thoughts, "Edward, this is Emmett, my brother. Emmett, this is Edward."

Her brother. Their _uncle_. _Thanks you, Jesus._

"Nice to meet you, man," Lola latched onto his leg while he shoved his hand at me, and I smiled a little too much shaking it. "So, why are you hitting on my sister in the park?"

My smile disappeared instantly, "What? No, I…We just…I was just talking…"

"I know, right?" Bella continued. "I mean, I'm here with my _kids_ and still, he comes right up and starts talking about his fancy college degree and his job and how he coaches baseball…" and then she trailed off.

Oh. _Ooooh_. They both were grinning at me now and trying to hold in their laughter, "Very funny. Seriously, you're both hilarious." They let go and started laughing. Brady and Lola looked thoroughly confused by their outburst, but eventually joined in just because, and soon I was laughing as well.

"So now that we've all made me look like an idiot…" I started, debating whether to leave and go back to my reading now that Bella and the twins had other company.

"Sorry, dude. I was just having a little fun. It really is nice to meet you," Emmett said, and he sounded sincere.

Then, Bella touched my forearm to get my attention and smiled, and the combination of those two things made me feel something I'm not sure I could adequately describe, but it was nothing short of amazing. "Yeah, just ignore us," she said, "Actually, I promised the kids that when Uncle Emmett got here we'd go for ice cream. You're welcome to join us."

The offer was extremely tempting. I wanted to spend more time with Bella and the kids, but I knew I'd see them tomorrow and didn't want to intrude on time with their brother and uncle, so I politely declined.

I'm not sure, but she might have looked a little disappointed. "Okay. I guess we'll see you tomorrow, then. It really was nice meeting you."

"The pleasure was all mine," I smirked, "And yes, you'll see me tomorrow. I'll be the one looking for you every 10 seconds, so don't leave me hanging."

Bella blushed and looked down, then turned toward the twins, "Say goodbye to Edward, bugs."

There was a flurry of "byes" and waves and high-fives, and then we went our separate ways. I was already anxious to see them again.

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><p><strong>AN**: So there you have it, chapter one! Whadja think? Yay? Nay? Next up we have Bella's point of view after our first meeting in the park. Subsequent chapters will be a little longer and more than one scene. I didn't want to overwhelm you right off-the-bat. And if everything goes as planned, I'll be updating once a week, but I'm not sure which day yet.


	2. Ice Cream and Shared Hotdogs

**A/N:** Hello again! Back with Chapter numero dos! Not much more to say up here, so read on if you please. :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 – Ice Cream and Shared Hotdogs<strong>

**Bella**

"Shut it, Em. Seriously." _Now he was just pissing me off._

We'd been sitting here at the ice cream place for over 20 minutes, and he had yet to stop talking about Edward. If I wasn't friends with his wife, I'd think _he_ was interested. He even went as far as to drill the twins about him, but all that got him was a detailed description of his chaotic bronze hair from Lola ("Is so messy!") and Brady confirming that his name is, in fact, "Ehwood". He was too absorbed in his ice cream to be bothered with conversation.

"Come on, B! What's so wrong with me having an interest in my sister's life? Huh? I mean, did you see that jawline? The man looked like he was carved out of granite." He shook his finger back and forth through the air in mock-sass, "You gotta get _on_ that, girl."

I snorted, "Jeez, Emmett. You're such a fruitcake. And I gotta say, your investment in my love life is borderline disturbing. I talked to the man for half an hour, tops!"

"That's the point! A half an hour with the guy and you were already more comfortable talking to him than you ever were with that…" he looked to the twins, "…ding-bag you stayed with for so long. And don't even try to deny it. I could tell."

Emmett and I were raised in a very loosely-structured environment, with our mother a hippy-wannabe and our father a laid-back Police Chief, and while I'd say our upbringing worked in most respects, we both came away from it with pretty serious potty-mouths. It's been a trip finding words to fill the gaps where our swearing would usually go.

I shook my head, pulling myself out of my thoughts, "Emmett…"

He interrupted me, "Aren't I right, trouble makers?"

Both Lola and Brady nodded fervently while they sloppily lapped at their ice cream cones. I didn't know what was worse: the fact that they responded so quickly to that endearment, or their siding against me.

"And how would they know? They weren't even born to witness that clusterfunk." I sighed, "Why are we talking about this? I don't even know if he's interested, let alone if he's single." Truthfully, though, that was the first time I had considered that he wasn't single, and the thought didn't exactly sit well with me.

"Because, Bella, I want you to at least see how this turns out before you dismiss it. I know the twins are your life and you don't think you need a man, and maybe you don't, but don't screw up something that could potentially be great just because you're scared of letting people in," he smirked, "and I mean that last statement in both the metaphoric _and_ literal way."

"God, what is wrong with you? You start that off by making me think you actually care about my feelings and then end it with something wildly inappropriate for a brother to say." He shrugged and took another bite of his ice cream. "And I don't know why I'm getting this lecture again. I didn't shut him down right away; I made plans to go to his game tomorrow. What more do you want?"

"Just keep an open mind," he slapped his hand over his chest dramatically, "and an open heart, that's all I'm saying." His face turned serious, "And you know I care about your feelings, B."

I smiled, "I know, dude. You're a good big brother."

"Try _amazing_. And for the record? He's interested," he added, then went on to shove the entire rest of his ice cream into his behemoth mouth and grinned, causing half of it to fall back on the table in front of him. I sighed, Lola looked horrified, and Brady almost fell out of his booster seat laughing.

...

"Brady-bug, quit shaking that tush and get over here!"

I lunged for him as he dashed down the hall for round two of running around the house naked. Baths always tire Lola out, so she was currently cuddled up on the couch with her teddy and counting to ten in Spanish with Dora. Brady, on the other hand…

"Shake-it, shake-it! Shake-it, shake-it!" …they have the opposite effect on him. I snatched him up before he could start on the second verse of his improvised song, and he giggled and kissed my cheek as I plopped down next to Lola and forcefully stuffed his legs into his underwear.

"Why's your brother so crazy, Lola-bug?" I asked her, slightly out of breath from playing cat and mouse with Brady.

She smiled and shrugged, "'Cause he eats lotsa bubbles in da baf?"

_That is true. I wonder if there's any merit to that. I'll Google it._

"Astute observation, sis." I poked her nose and she giggled.

Once Brady settled down and let me finish dressing him, I scooted back so that I was leaning against the side arm of the couch and they each crawled onto one of my legs, facing me. After baths we've always done this thing where we snuggle on the couch for a while before they go to bed, and for the last few months we've added the tradition of sharing with each other what our favorite parts of the day were. I love that they've started talking more recently.

"Me first?" requested Brady.

"Sure, man," I agreed, "What was your favorite thing today?"

He scrunched his eyebrows together while he thought, "Umm…" then his eyes lit up, "I liked when Emmy spilldid da ice cream outta his mouf!"

I chuckled and shook my head as they both fell forward on my chest in laughter. _Of course that was his favorite thing._

"Your Uncle Em shouldn't be allowed to eat in public. What about you, Lola?"

I could tell she already knew what she was going to say by how she was bouncing on my leg. "I liked when you falled offta bars, Ma. An when Bwady-bug licked da dirt an spittid it on yo shoe."

Once again their laughter rang out and I couldn't help but laugh along, despite the fact that my favorite white and grey-checkered chucks were currently spinning in the washer.

"Laugh it up, guys, but I'd like to see how _you'd_ react if I spit dirt on _your_ shoes." Lola's eyes went wide, probably thinking about her precious Minnie Mouse sandals, and Brady continued laughing at the retelling of his own antics. I hugged them both to my chest and kissed their heads. "Okay, my turn then. My favorite part was getting to spend the _whole_ day at the park with you guys, and feeding the ducks our extra crackers."

"An Ehwood, Ma," Brady added nonchalantly, looking up at me.

_Color me shocked. _"What?"

Lola continued his thought, "You liked Ehwood." She sat up and squeezed my cheeks together when I didn't change my expression to show recognition, "Wif da messy hair, Ma!"

I didn't think they were even paying attention to my interactions with Edward, but apparently they're more perceptive than I thought. The fact that they noticed and brought him up tonight surprised me, because they've never brought up any other person that I've briefly interacted with on our outings before. Emmett's earlier words filled my head for what felt like the 50th time that day.

_I need to stop thinking too much about it this or else I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. _

After acknowledging their input about Edward, we finished up our night with an impromptu tickle war and then read a few books that they picked out before they went to sleep. When they were both snoozing, I headed to my room, changed into pajamas, and climbed into bed.

_Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day, no doubt._

_..._

I heard the distinctive sound of giggles next to both of my ears and knew that my time to sleep had ended.

Ever since we switched from the cribs to toddler beds, the twins had made it routine to wake me up by sauntering into my room in the early morning hours and climbing in bed with me. The first time they did it I was confused because as far as I knew they weren't tall enough to scale my bed, so the following day when I heard them patter down the hall and into my room, I squinted open one eye to watch. That's how I learned their tactic: Lola stands in front of Brady and pulls on my comforter while Brady simultaneously pushes her bottom to get her up, then she turns around and grabs his hands, pulling him while he squirms and wiggles to the top. They do this every day, and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. The fact that they're each other's best friend makes my heart melt.

I felt my covers lift up and drop again, then cold toes on my bare thighs as they wormed their way on top of me, setting their chins on my chest.

"See? She sleepin', Lola-bug," Brady whispered sweetly.

"Nuh-uh!" she yelled, not bothering to continue with his whispering since she obviously knew the truth.

"Yeah-huh!" he countered back. _Apparently telling her off is more important than keeping quiet, now._

"Den why she smilin'?" The girl had a point. I grabbed them both and flipped on my side in one motion, causing them to squeal and laugh.

"What are you doing in my bed?" I playfully growled and pulled the covers over all of our heads so we were surrounded by darkness. "You know what? Now that I think about it, I _am _hungry for breakfast, and my favorite breakfast is chubby toddler cheeks!" I pretended to munch on their cheeks while they twisted away to avoid it and laughed.

Once we finally got out of bed, I made real breakfast and while we ate I explained that we were going to watch a baseball game today. To say that they were excited would be an understatement.

I got them dressed for the day in their matching Minnie and Mickey Mouse t-shirts and put a jean skirt on Lola and blue shorts on Brady since it was actually supposed to be fairly hot today, and then put Lola's hair in pigtails. Before the game I had to stop at the bookstore I work at to grab my sunglasses that I left there on Friday, which is where we ran into my best friend, Alice, in the parking lot.

After hearing the twins ramble excitedly about the baseball game, she forced the story from the park yesterday out of me and insisted that she come with us to "check out this potential suitor".

"He coaches special education baseball, Bella! That's even more adorable than when a man cleans the house and does your laundry!" she squealed. Between her and Emmett I was never going to hear the end of this.

...

The first thing I noticed when we got there was the insane amount of people on the stands for an elementary school team. It made me smile. Alice ran off to see about getting some hot dogs, and I continued walking, one kid holding each hand, to find some seats.

"Bella!" I heard my name from a familiar voice and turned to find Edward, complete in his coach's uniform, smiling and jogging toward us. "You guys came!"

I smiled back when he reached us and looked down at the ground, suddenly embarrassed for some inexplicable reason. "I told you we'd be here."

He continued smiling and knelt down to talk to the twins. "Hey, guys. Are you excited to watch the game?"

"Uh-huh!" replied Brady, "Me an Lola gonna get a floweh ball!" He put his free hand up for Lola to high-five and she enthusiastically slapped it with hers.

"Yeah, teamwook!" she replied.

"A flower ball?" Edward looked a little confused but laughed at their excitement.

"I'm gonna guess that he means a 'foul' ball, and he definitely learned that from my dad because I don't even really know what that is."

Edward looked up at me and chuckled, then went back to talking to the twins, "Well, I'll have to see what we can do about getting you a ball, okay?"

"Okay!" they said in unison.

He stood back up and there was a moment of awkwardness where neither of us really knew what to say, but then Alice came running toward us yelling, completely oblivious to Edward, and our focus switched to her.

"Bella! Oh my _God_, girl, so I was searching for the hotdogs and I found them and while I was waiting for them to be grilled I sneezed and then this guy said 'bless you' so I looked over at him and I swear to all that is good and holy that he is the hottest piece I have ever seen. So I talked to him and he said he was the coach which didn't make sense because I thought you said your guy was the coach and he said his name was Jasper and your guy's name is Edward but then I found out they're both coaches! I swear to God we need to come to more of these because they are swarming with hotties…"

"Alice!" I interrupted before she could embarrass me further. I'm sure I was already three shades of red. "Alice, this is _Edward_," I said pointedly, "Edward, this is my former best friend, Alice."

Alice's eyes went wide while Edward turned toward her with a knowing smirk, "Nice to meet you, Alice. I'll make sure to let Jasper know that you appreciated his…polite gesture."

"Uh…okay…thanks. And it's nice to meet you, too." She turned to me and looked guilty.

_You should be, you little pixie. This is the last time I bring you anywhere._

That was when I noticed she wasn't carrying anything. "What happened to the hotdogs?"

"Fudge! I guess I got…sidetracked." She quickly glanced at Edward and then back to me, "Here, I'll get our seats with the kids and you go get them."

I passed their hands off to her, "Fine. I'll be right back, bugs."

Edward waved to them as they walked with Alice to the stands, "I'll come with you. The game doesn't start for another 20 minutes."

"Okay, thanks," I smiled, then tried to think of what to say next to the man Alice just called 'my guy'. "So…the weather's perfect for baseball." _Nice, Bella. Real original._

He didn't seem put-off by it, "Yeah, it's great. Much better than the last game, where it had poured the day before, and three kids lost a shoe in the mud."

I laughed just as we reached the grill that was cooking hotdogs and turned to him, "Sorry about Alice. She's…enthusiastic."

"Don't worry about it. She was charming," he grinned, "and not the first person I've met that goes a little crazy over Jasper's baby blue eyes and perfectly coiffed hair."

"Meh, I like a guy's hair to be a little more on the messy side," I glanced up at his hair, "_Im_perfectly coiffed, you might say." _What is this? Am I flirting with him?_

"Hmm, yes. I can picture that. Any color preference?" If I was, he was doing it right back.

"Blonde," I said, messing with him, "As blonde as they come."

"Ouch. Well, then, I guess I'll keep an eye out and let you know what I see," he smirked. "Well, I should head over to the dugout. Can I come find you after the game?" he looked almost shy as he asked, "You know…to give the kids their ball."

"Aw, you don't have to do that. But sure, come find us." I reached up and gently touched his forearm, "Good luck in the game."

After Edward walked away, I grabbed us all hotdogs and went to sit with Alice and the kids. The game started shortly after and turned out to be thoroughly entertaining to watch. Much better than the games my dad watched on TV all throughout my childhood, but that might have had more to do with being able to see Edward interact with the kids and just being able to see Edward in general than it did the actual sport itself.

The twins were enjoying it just as much as I was. There was one cute little boy on Edward's team who would stop and dance on each base whenever he got a hit. He had everyone on the stands in hysterics, including Lola and Brady. Alice was lusting after Jasper the whole game, and would not stop talking about her brief interaction with him. At one point she even got jealous when one of the player's moms touched his shoulder, and I had to stop her from going up to the lady and her _husband_ to ask what her intentions were with Jasper. She's never played well with others in the ten years that I've known her.

The game ended and I had no idea which team had won, but I don't think they really kept track anyway. It was clear that the games were more about the kids and their families enjoying themselves than they were about competition. The kids and I stayed back and waited in the stands while everyone else was filing out so that Edward could find us when he was done talking to the parents and congratulating the children. Alice left us to go scope out her new fixation.

When Edward finally came over to us, it was with an apologetic smile. "Thanks for waiting. I didn't think that would take so long. I would've understood if you had to leave."

I smiled, "It's fine. Lola and Brady found some ants to entertain themselves with."

Edward bent down to see what they were doing between the seats of the bleachers. They were currently turned so that all I could see was their backs. His face scrunched up in disgust as he asked, "What are you doing down there, goofballs?" This caused them to start giggling.

_Oh, man. Are they picking their noses? That'd be great. Hey, Edward, look at my kids! Cute, huh?_

I wouldn't be surprised. Brady just started this phase where it's rare _not_ to see him with his finger permanently attached to his brain, and, as it is with most phases that one begins, Lola followed quickly in his path.

"We sharin' hotdog wif da ants!" Lola replied, holding up a hotdog that had ants crawling all over one side and a Lola-sized bite on the other.

_Oh my God, I can't even…_

"You _guys_!" I whined, "Put that down!" I grabbed it and flung it in the grass, trying not to gag. "Uck! Why would you share your food with ants? That's just not right, dudes."

Brady shrugged, "I dunno. Theys hungry and wes hungry so wes shared," he answered as if that were totally normal.

"Well…new rule: No eating things with bugs on it. Capish?"

"Capish!" they both replied, and then laughed.

I looked back to Edward, who was barely suppressing his laughter during all of this. "Why do my kids always eat disgusting things when I'm around you?"

"I have no idea, but hey, it's protein, right?" he sat down next to me on the bleacher.

I thrust my water bottle at the kids and told them to drink, then nudged Edward in his side, "_Ew_. Anyway, great game. We had fun watching."

"Thanks, and I'm glad. I'm sorry we didn't get to talk at all during it, though," he smiled sweetly.

My phone went off just as I was going to reply, with my SpongeBob SquarePants "Striped Sweater" ring tone, of course, because these last few minutes hadn't been weird enough already. I looked at my caller ID and groaned, sending it to voicemail.

"Is something wrong?" Edward inquired.

"No. It's just this guy that's supposed to come over and fix my lawn mower for me on Tuesday. He's probably canceling, _again_, and my grass is almost taller than the twins right now."

"Well," he paused as if debating what he was going to say next, "I could come over on Tuesday and fix it…I mean, if you want me too." When I didn't reply right away, he looked at his feet and started nervously rambling, "It's just that during the summers when I was in high school and college I worked for a pool and lawn company, so I know a lot about mowers and stuff, and school's out so I've just been working sporadically at the hospital where my dad works doing volunteer work, so…"

"Edward," I interrupted and he looked at me again, "That'd actually be great. Are you sure you don't mind?"

His face brightened, "Definitely not."

"Well, thanks, then. I'll make sure to have food and drinks waiting for you as payment for your troubles," I smiled.

"It won't be any trouble at all. I was looking at a boring day at home doing laundry, anyway."

I gave him my address and my phone number (_What? It's __just in case he can't find the house or something and needs to call me_, _not because_ _I secretly want him to have it or anything_.), and told him to come any time since I don't work on Tuesdays.

"Sounds great. Oh! I almost forgot," he grabbed something out of his pocket and turned toward the kids, "Here's your foul ball, anteaters," he threw a grin at me when I groaned at the nickname.

"Tank you, Ehwood!" They each hugged one of his legs in delight.

"No problem," he smiled and lightly rubbed their backs. When they detached he stood up, "I'll see you all on Tuesday. Bye, Bella. Later, anteaters. " He winked at me and started walking backwards off of the bleachers.

"Goodbye, _Ehwood_," I joked. He turned around and I watched his back as he walked away from us.

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><p><strong>AN:** So…Tuesday, huh? Seems they keep making plans to see each other. Speaking of Tuesdays, that's when I'm going to shoot for updating every week. Next chapter we're back in Edward's messy-haired head. :)

By the way, I put a link to the SB song I referred to as Bella's ring tone up on my profile. You guys, that shit is hilarious. I'm not kidding when I say that it's my current ring tone right now.


	3. Booty Shakin' and Flower Handprints

**A/N:** Ello mates! (That's my best attempt at an Australian accent.) We're back for chapter 3! I forgot to mention last week, but thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and alerting/favorite-ing. They all make me smile, and I reply to every review, so if you have any questions/concerns/comments, they will be addressed, I promise. Oh, and lastly, any mistakes are my own, so please excuse them. No matter how many times I re-read, I still miss at least one, and it drives me crizazy.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 – Booty Shakin' and Flower Handprints<strong>

**Edward**

My parents invited me over for breakfast on Monday morning because my father had a rare week-day off and my mother was in between projects as an interior designer. Really, though, I think they've missed seeing me as much as they used to when I lived with them in Seattle up until college ended. A few years ago they moved to Forks for my dad's new job at the hospital, and that was one of the reasons why I took the job here as a teacher when it was offered to me. But we're all happy with our new arrangements, now. My dad doesn't have to work nearly as much as he used to, my mother can continue to do what she always has, and I scored my dream job in a small town close to family.

"Edward, honey, could you pass me the orange juice?" my mother asked.

I passed it to her and she smiled in thanks. "This is great, Mom. It's been a while since I've had something other than cereal or Hot Pockets for breakfast."

"That's disgraceful, son," my dad admonished. "Don't you know how to make eggs? Pancakes? You need proper sustenance."

"I'm _kidding_…sort of. Anyway, that's what these breakfasts are for. You _could_ invite me over more, you know," I joked.

"You know you're welcome any time, dear. Hey, I have everything to make french toast," she said, enticing me with my favorite, "why don't you and Jasper come over tomorrow for breakfast and keep me company? Your dad has to be to work at the ass-crack of dawn and I'll be all by myself."

I cringed, "Mom, never use the words 'ass-crack' and 'french toast' that close together ever again, please." She laughed. "And that sounds great, but I already have plans," I replied vaguely, hoping she wouldn't ask for specifics. If there's one thing my mother can't help but nag at me for, it's my lack of a girlfriend. I didn't want to get her excited over nothing.

_Maybe nothing. Hopefully something._

"What do you have planned?" my dad questioned. "Are you volunteering tomorrow? If so, we should have lunch together." _Traitor_.

"No, I…" I stalled, but decided to just get it over with since I knew they wouldn't let it go. "I'm meeting a new friend at her house. She needs help fixing her lawn mower and I offered to take a look at it for her. I figured I'd get there early, fix it, and then mow her lawn before it gets too hot out. It's supposed to be a scorcher tomorrow." _Maybe ending with talk of weather will distract her._

Not a chance. "Who is this friend? Have we met her?"

"No, you haven't. I just met her on Saturday," I replied and glared at dad.

Undeterred, mom asked, "Well, what's she like? Are you looking to pursue her?"

I groaned. _Jesus. Subtle much, Mom?_

"Esme, let him be," my dad spoke up, realizing his mistake in asking about my plans.

"Carlisle, I am his mother. I'm allowed to ask these questions." She turned back to me, "It's just that I worry sometimes, dear. Ever since all of that happened in Seattle –"

"Mom…"

She continued on, "Ever since it happened and you moved here, you've been so isolated. It's like you're too scared to make any connections. I know you and Jasper have become great friends and that's wonderful, but have you met anyone outside of work? I'm just afraid you're closing yourself off to other relationships just because of what she did –"

"Mom!" I interrupted, loudly this time. Her shoulders dropped and she looked down at her food.

_Ugh. Now I feel bad._ She really is just worried about me, and I yelled at her.

"I'm sorry, I…I just really don't know her that well yet. I _do_ know that she's beautiful, funny, and an amazing mother to her twins, Lola and Brady. But that's it, so I'd rather talk about something else, if you don't mind."

I knew divulging even that wouldn't help the situation with my mom and probably only made it worse, but I felt bad and, truth be told, I wanted to be able to speak about Bella, but it still felt way too premature to do so.

My dad put a hand on my mother's shoulder to stop her from vibrating. I could tell she was trying to hold herself back and I appreciated it.

"Sure, Edward. We can talk about something else. But you make sure to let us know if anything new develops, okay?" my dad smiled reassuringly.

"I will, Dad, just…don't get your hopes up, guys, okay? Please?" I looked at my mother, "Promise me?"

She rolled her eyes, "Goodness, dear, I'm not a child. I _promise_."

…

After breakfast I went home to tackle some of the laundry that was currently taking over my bedroom, since I wasn't going to be able to make much of a dent tomorrow. After a few hours of wash, dry, fold, and repeat, I called Jasper to see if he wanted to meet up for an early dinner at the diner.

When we arrived and got settled he got right down to business. "So, give me whatever you got on your girl's friend, Alice."

I looked at him incredulously, "Really, J? That's what you want to talk about right now?"

_Have I had a conversation in the past few days that didn't revolve around feelings and girls?_

"What, man? She was hot. And she had good energy, which I like."

"Yeah, if 'good' means 'copious amounts of' in your book. Unfortunately, I don't know anything else about her other than that she's Bella's best friend." I slapped his back good-naturedly, "Sorry."

"Well, aren't you seeing Bella again?" I nodded. "Well, get her number for me when you do."

"Who does that? And why didn't you get it from Alice herself when you were talking to her yesterday?" I challenged.

"I tried! Before I could, she shoved her hotdogs at me and ran away mumbling something. All I caught was Bella's name."

I chuckled, knowing first-hand what it was she wanted to tell Bella. "I guess, if it comes up naturally, I'll try and get it for you. No promises, though."

"That's all I'm asking. So, now that I've got that out of the way, what's going on with you and Bella? Whose kids were in the stands with her?"

I grumbled, "Hers. They are her kids, Jasper, and before you –"

"What?" he interrupted, surprised, "How old is she? The kids looked to be almost 3."

"They 2 ½, and she's 22, and that's all I know right now. She's a great mother," I added, feeling defensive.

"Hey, I'm not judging. I was surprised, is all." He started eating his burger, and I was grateful that he seemed to be done talking about this. If every conversation I had was going to be about Bella, I at least wanted to know more about her.

Then Jasper looked up, curiously, "Who's the babies' daddy? Does she have any help? What about money and stuff? How's she getting by being so young and having twins?"

"Jasper, stop! I don't know, okay? I've only talked to her a few times, and we didn't exactly hash out her whole life story. Jeez."

He looked down, guiltily, "Sorry, sorry. I'll stop. But I think maybe these are some questions you should be asking if you're looking for things to get a little bit more serious, you know?"

"I know. But I want to build a little bit of friendship and trust before I ask her things that could potentially be very hard for her to talk about. I don't even know what we're doing, here. Maybe all she wants is a friend. Or maybe she doesn't even want a friend." That would be seriously disappointing if it were the case.

"I doubt it. Who could resist your fine ass?" he smirked, and we both laughed.

We kept the rest of our talking light, and after another half an hour we paid the bill and I headed back home. When I got there I took the time to finish up my laundry because, really, what else did I have to do other than wait anxiously for tomorrow, and then I set my alarm for 8:30am and got ready for bed. I was a little worried that getting there at 9am would be too early, but she said yesterday that the twins wake-up at "the devil's hour" and that she wasn't working and to come over whenever, so if I didn't have to wait, then I wasn't going to.

…

Nine o'clock rolled around and now I was here, at Bella's house, standing in front of her door. Upon arriving, a flurry of thoughts filled my head, most of which were in there because of my conversation with Jasper the night before.

First of all, her house was nice. Like, really nice. From the outside it looked like it had two stories and maybe even a basement. Her front yard was a decent size and her back yard was even more decent, surrounded by a white-wooden fence and housing a swing set for the kids. I wondered how she could pay for all of this. Maybe she rented? Or maybe she doesn't live alone? She didn't mention anything about having a roommate, but you never know.

_Oh, God, she doesn't live with her parents, does she? I mean, I wouldn't blame her if she did, but still, that would be weird. Ugh, quit over-thinking and knock!_

I took a deep breath and was about to knock when I heard some type of music start blaring through the house, and the faint sound of voices and laughter. Curious, I walked around the house a bit and peeked through one of the windows looking into the kitchen. What I saw made me smile so big that I felt my cheeks muscles start to twitch.

Standing, or should I say, _dancing_ in the kitchen were Bella, Brady, and Lola. Bella was positioned next to the stove in jean shorts and a red, short-sleeved shirt that said "Sugar and Spice and Everything Twice" with a picture of Brady and Lola underneath that looked like it had been taken maybe a year or so ago. She had one hand on a pan that had pancakes in it, and the other was holding a spatula that she was using as a microphone to sing along to Hakuna Matata, shaking her butt back and forth wildly. The twins were facing her, standing on the kitchen chairs and holding onto the back of them so they could bop up and down and mimic what Bella was doing while they giggled uncontrollably.

I didn't want to stop watching, but after another minute or so I started to feel creepy and went back around to knock on her door. It took a few knocks before I heard the music shut off and some clattering inside, then Bella opened the door looking surprised to see me. _Maybe this was a little too early._

"Oh! Edward, hey," she looked around nervously and then back to me, "I wasn't expecting you so early. Um…come on in." She moved aside to let me in just as the twins ran to stand by her legs.

"Sorry, I guess I should've called first. I just figured I'd come early before the heat picked up."

"Yeah, no, you're right. That makes sense. You wanna come in and eat breakfast with us?" She smiled timidly, "We were making pancakes."

"An dancin' an singin'!" said Lola, lifting her hands in the air to show me her dance.

"An shakin' tushies!" Brady added, similarly displaying his moves.

I grinned and nodded, "Yeah, I heard the music." I turned to Bella and smirked, "and saw a little bit through the window."

As expected, her face colored instantly, "Shit!" she slapped a hand over her mouth, "I mean…"

I continued grinning and walked past her, offering my hands to the twins, "So, pancakes?" They grabbed them and nodded. "Show me the way to the kitchen, then, anteaters!" I let them pull me along while Bella stayed in the doorway, stunned.

After a few seconds, though, she recovered and followed behind, "You were creeping at my window, Cullen?"

"Well…yeah, but it was purely for educational purposes."

She scoffed, "Oh, yeah? How was that educational?"

"Well, I've been trying to master the perfect booty shake for years, and I think now I finally know the trick."

"Oh my God," her eyes went wide and she threw her hands over her face in embarrassment.

I used her humiliation to my advantage and walked over to her, put my arm around her shoulder and said, "Don't be embarrassed. We all like to shake it every once and a while," I looked at Brady and Lola, "Right? I know I do." They nodded their heads in agreement.

Bella laughed and removed her hands from her face, "Yeah, whatever, creeper," she playfully shoved me off of her and went to finish getting breakfast ready.

After our breakfast, in which Bella and I ate quietly and listened to Brady and Lola chatter on and on about Dora and Diego and brushing their teeth and coloring princesses and falling off the bed and blowing bubbles and swimming and picking out candy at the store and watching the pretty colors in the sky on the 4th of July, we all put our plates in the sink (after Bella refused to let me do the dishes because "it's such a waste of time when you have a dishwasher") and headed out the back door to their yard.

Once outside, the kids took off to play on the swing set while Bella took me over to the shed and opened the doors.

"Okay," I rubbed my hands together, "let's take a look at this thing." I walked over and started examining her push lawn mower.

"I have no idea what happened to it. I was mowing one day and then I stopped for a bit to make the kids lunch and when I came back to finish mowing, it wouldn't start."

While I listened to her explain I walked around the mower, checking parts of the motor. "Alright. Let me tinker around a bit and I'll see what I can do." I briefly stopped my inspection and glanced up at her.

"Okay," she smiled, "Thanks, Edward." She looked so sweet when she said it, and for some reason I had this crazy urge to hug her; to be close to her for just a moment. Luckily, the rational part of my brain reminded me that it would be really weird if I just walked up and hugged her right then, so I filed the feeling away for a later time.

"You don't have to stay in here. It'll probably be a little bit." I didn't want her to leave, but there was really no acceptable reason for me to keep her here while I worked.

"Trying to get rid of me already?" she joked. "Actually, if it won't bother you, I was thinking that maybe I could repaint the shed. I've been meaning to do it since I got the paint a month and a half ago."

"No, not at all. Paint away," I said, and got started as she ran inside to get the paint and old clothes for her and the twins to wear.

For the next hour I continued to work on her mower while she, Lola, and Brady painted the outside walls of the shed. I found it incredible how she could take something as boring as painting and make it exciting and fun for herself and two toddlers. By the time I finished, I was covered in oil and dirt and I think Bella and the twins had paint on every part of skin that wasn't covered by old painting clothes.

I walked out of the shed, "Okay, it should be working now. It started up fine."

Bella looked up from where she was sitting with the kids on the grass, "Great! We're almost done here, too." She stood up and turned toward the shed.

They had painted all of the sides a soft, baby blue, and on one side they used their handprints to make different colored flowers across the bottom with dark green stems connecting them to the ground. Three flowers in pink, purple, and green were taller than the rest. The pink one had "Ma" written under it, the purple one "Lola-bug", and the green one "Brady-bug". Overarching all of the flowers was a tree, and in it were the words "We grow together". I stared, in awe of it. I didn't have to know Bella long to know that this was so innately _her_.

"So…what do you think?" I didn't answer her. "Edward?"

"It's beautiful, Bella. Seriously, I...how did you do all of that in an hour?"

She blushed, "I've had the idea in the back of my head for a while, so I kind of had everything planned out already, and I got fast-drying paint. The only thing that took a little time was the tree."

"You said you're almost done? What else are you adding?"

It was then that I noticed a stem next to Brady's handprint that didn't have a flower attached.

"You gots to put red paint on yo hand, Ehwood," informed Brady.

"I know it's kind of cheesy," Bella quickly added, looking unsure, "but they wanted to include you. You don't have to do it if you don't want; it's not a big deal."

A grin overtook my entire face, "Bella, I don't care how old I am, I'm still a boy, and a boy never turns down getting his hands messy." I walked over to where they were standing by the paint, "I'd be honored."

"Okay," she said, "give me your hand."

With her left hand she gently grabbed the back of my right and pulled it up to be mid-waist level. Just as she was about to squeeze red paint on it, I noticed something that I hadn't before: a word tattooed in black ink across her wrist, just below the bottom of her palm. Brady. On an impulse, I reached for her other hand and turned it over, unsurprised to see Lola's name tattooed in the same spot.

I lightly brushed my thumbs over them and looked up, only to see her staring back at me with such intensity and vulnerability in her eyes that I could barely stand it. After a few moments, I reluctantly let go of the hand that I had grabbed and she broke our gaze, shook her head, and poured the paint on my hand. After setting the paint bottle down, she took her middle finger and spread it evenly across my hand, smiling up at me sweetly, "There you go," she cleared her throat, "have at it."

I carefully pressed my hand right above the stem and then slowly pulled it off to see how it looked. After I stepped back, Bella moved in my place and wrote "Ehwood" underneath it with the finger she used to spread the paint on my hand. She turned around and smiled.

_Perfect._

After a few minutes of Bella insisting I not mow her lawn, I finally got her to compromise: she and the twins would go inside and make lunch for all of us while I mowed. It only took me about 45 minutes because, since a neighbor had been mowing the front for her, all I had to do was the back. Despite how little time it took, it was really getting hot out and I looked like I had just run a 5K marathon, complete with the oil and dirt still on me from before.

"Hey, Bella?" I called from her back doorway.

She walked over from the kitchen, "What's up?"

"I'm kind of…" I waved my hands at myself, "…a mess. I don't want to come in and get everything all dirty." Her eyes ran over my body a bit longer than necessary and I grinned, a little smug.

"Right. Um…okay, hold on." She walked back and I heard her call for the kids. A few seconds later they all came through the back door, Bella looking mischievous and the twins looking excited. "Okay, step back a little bit into the yard."

I followed orders, curious. Then I saw Bella pull the hose from the side of her house and hand it to Lola as she turned the knob on.

"What…what are you doing?" I asked, although I already had a fairly good guess as to the answer.

"What? You need to get cleaned and it's hot out. This will clean you _and_ cool you off." She grinned.

"I didn't bring any extra clothes!" I protested.

"Don't worry about it. I've got stuff that will fit you."

Just as I was pondering why _that_ was, my face was blasted with freezing cold water. I might have yelped like a little girl.

"Bugs, don't get his face!"

Lola and Brady were laughing, "Sowee, Ehwood!"

When I recovered from the shock of it, I began laughing with them and soon they all took turns washing me off, even Bella, who spent an extra amount of time on my hair for some reason. After they finished, I took off my shirt just as Bella threw a towel at me.

"Dry off and then come on in. I'll get you clothes." She seemed to be avoiding looking at me. _Interesting._

Once thoroughly dried, I walked in and found Bella standing in the hall with a white t-shirt, flannel pajama pants, and…boxers?

_Jesus. These are definitely not hers. _

"Oh…thanks," I said as I took them from her.

"Sure, no problem. They're all clean, I promise. The bathroom's right there," she pointed, "and lunch is ready when you're done," she said and walked away.

_Okay, that was a little awkward._

I got dressed, feeling weird about wearing what I assumed was another man's boxers, but mine were too wet to salvage and I was _not_ going to take a chance going commando in these pants. I walked into the kitchen with my wet clothes and Bella took them from me, insisting that she'd wash them, and told me to take a seat.

Lunch went down similarly to breakfast, and when we were done eating Bella excused herself to go put the twins down for a nap upstairs. I waited downstairs until she emerged from the hall a few minutes later.

"Okay, well, thank you so much, Edward. You really didn't need to mow the lawn, but I appreciate it."

"Yeah, no, thanks for lunch. And breakfast. And the outdoor shower," I smiled.

She laughed, as I hoped she would, "You're welcome."

I looked toward the door, "I guess I should get going, then. Can I…Do you maybe wanna have lunch sometime…or something?"

She looked down at her feet and then back up, smiling, "Sure. Yeah, that sounds good. I work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and my lunch break is usually at 12:30. The other days are fine, too, but I'd have the kids with me then, obviously."

"Okay, great. I'll call you sometime."

She walked me to her front door, "Okay. I'll give you your clothes back when we meet."

I opened the door and walked out, then turned around. "Sounds good. I'll bring these back, too," I said, pointing to the clothes I was wearing.

"Oh, you can keep them. They're not mine and I really have no use for them, so don't worry about it."

_Yes! That's a good sign, right?_

On that note, I left Bella's house smiling and looking forward to our lunch date.

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><p><strong>AN:** Oh, but whose clothes were they? I know Edward's curious. Are you? Hint: It ain't Charlie.

Next update on Tuesday!


	4. Money Talk and Quick Decisions

**A/N**: You guys are awesome! Thanks for all of the love I've been getting. Each review and/or alert/favorite makes me want to write more [obvious and blatant hint/]. Speaking of, as anyone who has reviewed knows, I reply to every review. My question is: annoying or endearing? If it bugs you, let me know. If not I'll be sending you my love with each review. :)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 – Money Talk and Quick Decisions<strong>

**Bella**

The next few days after Tuesday, or flower-handprint-tattoo-caressing-Edward-gate as I'd taken to calling it, went by extremely fast. Of course, that's only if the meaning of "extremely fast" had suddenly changed and now meant agonizingly slow. I couldn't believe how ridiculous I was being over the simple possibility of a call to go to lunch.

_When did I start caring about this stuff?_

I knew the answer to that, but decided to ignore it and to finish getting ready for work while the kids were still interested in watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

It was now Friday, and usually Mondays and Fridays are the days that I take Brady and Lola to daycare, while Wednesdays are reserved for Uncle Emmett, but Em called me on Tuesday night and asked if he could switch days because Rose was gone on business for something or another and wouldn't be back until some time or another and he couldn't watch them on Wednesday for some reason or another. To be honest I wasn't really listening, but long story short, they're going to Emmett's today. He works as a tech guy for a little company outside of town, so for the most part he's able to make his own schedule and he took today off.

"Alright, bugs, you ready to blow this popsicle stand?"

"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!" they both replied, jumping off the couch and running toward the front door.

After getting their shoes on, we walked to my car and I buckled them into their seats, then we made the 10 minute trek over to Emmett and Rosalie's house. When Emmett saw us pull up he came out to the car and grabbed Brady while I brought in Lola.

"Thanks for switching days, B. Sorry I couldn't give you more notice; it was kind of a last-minute thing," he put down Brady as I put down Lola and they both ran into the room off of the hallway that held all of their toys.

"Thanks for watching my kids for free once a week," I smirked. "But seriously, don't worry about it. I pay the daycare good money for them to only go there twice a week, so they're not going to complain about me bringing them on a different day every so often."

"Right. Oh, speaking of money, are you in the pool for the next game?"

He and Rose occasionally host various sports parties where people put in money and bet on which team they think will win. I know nothing about sports but sometimes bet on the team with the cooler name or more interesting colors just because it's fun to pick sides and yell at the TV with the others.

"Nah, not this time. It's not in the budget," I replied, and hoped he wouldn't start in on me like he usually does when I make comments like that.

"Be-_la_," he droned, sounding annoyed.

"What, Emmett? It's not. I've got to get some new work clothes soon and I don't want to commit to anything else at el momento." _Four years of Spanish in high school, thankyouverymuch._

He huffed, as if dealing with a child, "I don't understand you. You'll use that money to buy anything that could benefit the twins - new beds, that swing set, a fucking _house_," he looked to make sure the kids hadn't heard him before continuing, "and yet you won't even use it to buy yourself new clothes for work? How does the make sense? It's _your_ money, B."

"Yeah, on a technicality," I muttered, picking at a string hanging from the bottom of my shirt. I really did need new clothes.

"So what! Why does it matter how you got it? The point is she wanted us to have it - to use it," he argued.

"I know that, Emmett, but I can't help how I feel. I didn't earn it, so I don't feel like I deserve to use it on things just for myself. I feel guilty enough that I had to use it that first year."

"Bella, come on. That's bullshit. You deserve that money more than me and Mom combined, and it's not like you sit on your ass all day doing nothing. You take care of two toddlers all by yourself _and_ manage a bookstore 3 days a week!"

"Can we stop talking about this, please? I have no problem using it for the twins if need be so that's all that should matter." I sighed and looked at the time. "I gotta get going before you make me late, you oaf."

He shook his head and smiled, "Whatever. I'll see you later, _Ms._ _Stubborn_."

I smiled back, "Later. Come give me kisses, bugs! Mama's gotta go!" They ran out of the room and attacked my legs, and I bent down and gave them each a kiss, "Bye, babies. Be good for Uncle Emmy." I reluctantly let them go and started walking toward the door, "Love you more than chocolate!"

I heard a jumble of "love you" and "chocolate, where?"s yelled back and then I was on my way.

…

"Ang, did we get the new Harry Potter order in yesterday?" I called, peeking into the stock room where Angela was currently.

"Um…no, I don't think so. Hopefully it'll come today, though."

I grumbled, "It better. I swear if I have to tell one more person that we're out of stock I'm going to slam my face in the register."

She appeared in front of me and smiled, "Well, don't do _that_. Find something softer to slam it into. It's much too pretty to be marred by a register," she replied, patting my cheek.

"Thanks, _mom_. I'm not joking. It happens every year, without fail. One of the movies comes out and still, after a gazillion movies have already been released from the series, there's people coming in to buy the entire set like it's some new discovery they just _have_ to have."

She looked a little confused but entertained by my tantrum, "I don't know why you're upset by that, chica. It's good for business."

I sighed, "You're right. I'm just grumpy."

I knew I had no right to complain. I actually owed a lot to this bookstore, and to Angela and her husband, Ben, the store's owners. I started working here when I was in high school and through the years Angela and Ben have become almost parental figures to me, even though they're only 10 years older.

They've always been so supportive of my circumstances and have treated me far better than I deserve. Despite the fact that I basically quit unexpectedly on them after the twins were born, when I returned after so long with my tail between my legs and asked if I could have a job, even if it was as a part-time book-stacker, they welcomed me back with open arms and gave me back my job as a manager, but only part-time, per my request.

"Why you grumpy, babycakes?" Angela asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I sighed, "I'm not really sure. Emmett was being annoying this morning, but I don't think that's why, because he's always annoying so I'm used to that. Maybe I'm getting sick or something. I did cut myself making dinner Wednesday night. It could have gotten infected and it's possible I'm dying as we speak."

She laughed, "Well I don't blame you for being grumpy, then. It's almost noon, why don't you head off early and take a long lunch?"

_That actually sounds great._

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying," I asked half-heartedly. I didn't want to leave her here to fend for herself.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Jessica's coming in any minute and then I'll take my lunch, too."

After a little more protesting I gave in, and then went to the back office to grab my stuff so I could head out. Just as I was pulling out my keys and stuffing a granola bar in my mouth to tide me over until I figured out what I was going to do for lunch, my cell phone started buzzing from inside my purse.

Without looking at the caller ID, I picked it up and pushed the talk button, "Haw-roh?" _Yeah, I'm sure they understood that. _I chewed and swallowed my bite, taking the rest out of my mouth, "Erm…hello?"

"Bella? Hey. It's, uh…it's Edward."

_It's Edward! _I choked a little bit on the bite that I swallowed, "Oh! Edward, hi! Sorry, I had food in my…never mind, what's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if maybe you were available for that lunch?"

…

As it turned out, I _was_ available for lunch. _How nice of him to ask._

After a minute of talking on the phone, we discovered that he only lives a couple of miles away from the bookstore, so he offered to pick me up and I obliged.

When he got here, in a freaking silver Volvo, by the way, we decided on the little café in town. From the time when he arrived at the bookstore to when we arrived at the café, he was an absolute gentleman: opening doors, pulling out chairs, giving me more of the air vents in the car, and so on.

_Emmett needs to take some lessons from this man_.

Once we settled in our seats on opposite sides of the table, conversation started up pretty naturally.

"So how long have you worked at the bookstore?" he asked once we were finished ordering.

"I started when I was 15. I would work a few days after school and then increase to full-time during the summers," I replied back.

"Did you take any time off when you had the twins, or have you continued working there since?"

I laughed humorlessly, "Oh, I took time off. When the twins were born, my mom flew up from Phoenix for a couple weeks and I had my dad and Emmett and Alice, but I still found it impossible to work and be the type of mother I wanted to be at the same time." Our drinks arrived and I took a sip of mine before I continued, "I tried for only a few days after they turned 3 months old, but I hated putting them in daycare that young, and I didn't want a nanny to be their second mom, so I ended up taking the entire first year off from work."

He looked shocked at that admission. "Wow, that's a long time to go without a steady income. How did you…" he paused, debating with himself, but curiosity caused him to continue, "I mean, how could you afford doing that, if you don't mind me asking?"

_Did I mind him asking?_

In the past, telling this story to people usually embarrassed me or made me feel like a free-loader, but I didn't feel like Edward would judge me, so I decided to go ahead and tell him.

"When I was just about to turn 18, my mom's mom, or my grandma, I guess, died. Em and I didn't know her very well because my mom is from Jacksonville and my grandma still lived there, but when she died, we found out that she had been sitting on this massive amount of money that was passed down from her grandfather or great grandfather or something. It was a complete shock because, while my mother lived a very comfortable life growing up, they in no way were considered rich. After we looked into it we found out that she had barely used any of it during her lifetime."

Edward looked intrigued. Sometime during my speech, our food had arrived, so I paused to take a bite before I continued.

"Anyway, before she died, I guess she wrote in her Will that she wanted all of the money to go to my mom, Emmett, and I. I'm not sure why because, as I said, none of us were particularly close to her, but I guess she didn't really have anyone else to give it to, either. So, yeah…" I laughed uncomfortably, "we got it and…it's a lot of money, so I didn't have to work. I still don't _have_ to, technically."

He looked fascinated, "Why do you then?"

I pondered that. "I don't know. I like my job, and I've never really felt right using the money on myself. It feels weird since I barely knew her, you know? She was virtually a stranger. I mean, don't get me wrong – I'm extremely grateful to have it and my life right now would be so, _so_ different had I not gotten it when I did, but it just feels weird sometimes."

He nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I can see how that would feel weird."

I continued, "I do use it for the twins when I have to, or for things that will make their lives better but aren't necessarily _for_ them, but I try not to whenever I can manage. I pay all of my bills, excluding their daycare, with the money I make from work."

"Bella, that's…really responsible of you."

I smiled and rolled my eyes a little, "Not really. I mean, obviously I wouldn't be able to get by with two children having only a part-time job at a bookstore, so I guess not working full-time is an indulgence on my part, but I would hate only getting to spend whole days with the twins on the weekends."

"Still, most people wouldn't care where the money came from as long as it was legally theirs," he laughed. "I'm not so sure that I'd be able to show that kind of control, to be honest."

"It actually really pisses Emmett off. He doesn't share my feelings about the money. I mean, him and his wife both have full-time jobs, and he doesn't frolic around throwing hundreds in water fountains or anything," we both chuckled at the visual, "but he doesn't mind spending it."

"Different people feel different things, I guess. There's nothing wrong with the way either of you deal with it," he stated.

_Where's Emmett? He needs to hear this._

I smiled. It was nice, for once, not to be arguing over this subject, but just talking. I definitely didn't regret telling him.

Just as I was about to ask him some questions about _his_ job, since I had been talking pretty much the entire time so far, he switched topics, "So what about Emmett? Do he and his wife have any kids?"

_Okay, still my turn, I guess._

"Not yet, but they're trying. They have been for a while, actually, but it hasn't happened yet," I replied a little desolately. "They really want children, and Em couldn't be better with kids. Actually, Brady and Lola are with him right now. He gets them one day out of the week while I work."

He smiled, "That's nice that he wants to do that."

I nodded, "He's an amazing uncle, that's for sure."

"Well, I'm sure it will happen for them, too," he smiled reassuringly. "And hey, maybe they'll even have twins when it does."

My brows furrowed, "What makes you say that?" I asked, dumbly.

He looked at me, confused, "Uh…don't twins run in the family? Or does it not work like that?"

"Oh. Right." I smiled, "You know, we've been talking about me too much. What about you? What's your story, Mr. Cullen?"

His face fell a bit, but he recovered quickly and asked, "What do you wanna know, Ms. Swan?"

"Well, how long have you lived here? How did you get your teaching job?"

"Oh, um…" he paused and looked down at his food. He was considerably less comfortable now than he was when he was asking me questions.

_Why would he be uncomfortable? I mean, those are common questions, right?_

Finally, he looked up and continued, "Um…I moved here from Seattle about two years ago. The job is why I moved."

"Were there no job opportunities in Seattle that interested you or something?" I was being a little selfish in continuing this line of questioning, because I could tell by his demeanor that he didn't want to talk about it, but I was curious, and I shared a lot with him today so I didn't feel that guilty pushing him.

As I suspected, his discomfort increased even more. "No, that's not it, there were…I mean, I wanted…but my parents live in Forks and with the job offer from Forks Elementary and everything…" he trailed off, fidgeting and scratching the back of his neck.

_Okaaaaaay. That wasn't really an answer. Was he embarrassed about wanting to live by his parents or something?_

"So you wanted to be closer to your mom and dad?" I hedged. "If that's the case, there's nothing wrong with that."

He shook his head and smiled tightly, "No, I know that."

"I mean, I chose to stay in Forks because my dad and Emmett lived here."

"No, Bella…I mean, I get that, but that's not why…it's more…" he huffed, frustrated. I wasn't sure if the frustration was aimed at me or himself, though.

In all honesty, I didn't know what was going on. A few minutes ago we were having a nice, easy conversation, and now he was all awkward and squirrely and the conversation was tense at best.

Just as I was about to ask him if something was bothering him, my phone rang, stopping me.

"Oh, sorry." I checked the caller ID, "It's Emmett. Do you mind if I answer it really quick?"

He seemed extremely glad for the disruption and waved his hand, "No, of course not. Please, answer it."

I smiled in gratitude and answered, "Hey, Em. What's up?"

"Bella, you need to get back here." He sounded urgent, and my heart rate spiked instantly.

"Why? What's wrong? Is something wrong? Did something happen to the kids?" I spoke rapidly, already grabbing my stuff and standing up. Edward caught on and threw some cash on the table, following my lead.

"No…I mean, yes, but it's not the kids. It's dad."

I felt momentarily relieved that the twins were okay, but then realized what he said. "Dad? What happened? Is he alright?"

"I don't _know_! I don't know. Someone from the police station called me and said there was a crash and that he's in an ambulance headed to the hospital, but that's all they would tell me, and I can't leave because I have the kids and Rose took the car with their seats and I tried calling them back but the line was busy and no one is fucking telling me what's going on!" he yelled, his breathing heavy and obviously upset.

"Okay, Jesus, just chill out. We're on our way."

"Alright," he said, "but hurry," and then he hung up and that was that.

At this point we had made it back to Edward's car and were both climbing in. Edward started the car and began backing up. Once he was on the main road he spoke up, "Bella, what's going on?"

I was struggling to keep my breathing steady, "Emmett said the police called him and said that there was a crash and that my dad is on his way to the hospital by ambulance. He doesn't know anything else. My dad's the Police Chief of Forks, so I don't…" My voice was getting shaky and my eyes filled with tears.

He put his hand over my mine. "I'm sure he's fine, Bella. Just take a deep breath. It's going to be okay."

His words did little to soothe me, but I nodded my head and tried to breathe evenly. I quickly gave him instructions to Emmett's house and then we were on our way.

…

Because Edward was speeding the entire time, we got there in only 5 minutes. I jumped out and Edward followed me inside, where I found Emmett pacing back and forth in the kitchen while the kids were on the couch watching TV.

"Finally! I've been waiting for forever!" Brady and Lola heard Emmett yell and noticed I was there.

"Mama!" Lola shouted, and she and Brady ran over to us.

"Hi, Ehwood! What you doin' here?" Brady asked.

I interrupted, "Hey, bugs. Listen, Mama's gotta talk to Uncle Em for a second then I promise we'll talk, okay? Can you guys go watch TV for a little bit longer?" Much to my surprise, they listened and ran back over to the couch. I turned back to Emmett, "Have you heard anything else?"

"No! I keep trying to call but no one knows anything! We gotta go to the hospital, now."

"Okay. Let me just call the daycare and see if it's okay if I drop the kids off to them until I figure something else out." I grabbed my phone to dial the number, but hung up when I remembered that my car was still at the bookstore. "Shit! Edward drove me here; I don't have any car seats, either!"

"Who cares, B! Let's just pile them into my car and go," he said desperately.

"Emmett, I don't want them in the car without their car seats, especially considering we're both upset and you're going to want to drive faster –"

"I'll stay with the kids," Edward cut me off.

I turned to him, shocked, "What?"

"Give me your car keys and go with Emmett. I'll call Jasper and have him go get their seats out of your car and then I'll take Brady and Lola back to your house and I can just watch them there. That way you guys can go now and you don't have to worry about what to do with them when the daycare closes. You'll probably be at the hospital for a while."

His suggestion caught me off guard and I didn't know what to say, "Edward, I can't have you…"

"Bella, please, don't worry. We will be fine, I promise. You can trust me."

I did feel like I could trust him with the kids, but I didn't feel great about leaving him with them since they still didn't know him that well, and vice versa, but I didn't see any other immediate choices.

Then another idea came to my mind, "Hey, I can call Alice on our way and she can get off of work and come over to the house so that you don't have to watch them the whole time!" I turned away to grab my phone again to call Alice.

"If you want to do that, you can, but I really don't mind watching –"

"Fuck," I interrupted, "she's in Seattle for some fashion thing for her work. She won't be back until Sunday," I whined, on the brink of tears. _Why is nothing working out?_

"Bella, come _on_." Emmett's always been a Daddy's boy and I could tell he was beyond anxious to leave.

"Bella, look at me," Edward demanded, gently grabbing my upper arms and turning me toward him, "I will watch them. I swear you can trust me. I'm great with kids, and I'll call your cell if I have any questions. Scout's honor."

I hesitated, but finally gave in, "Okay. Thank you so much, Edward."

"It's my pleasure," he smiled, and ran his hands down my arms, ending at my hands and squeezing them reassuringly. Despite everything that was going on, the gesture sent tingles all throughout my body.

"Okay, great," Emmett broke me out of my daze, "then I'll go start the car and pull it out of the garage and you can get things settled in here. Please hurry up, though."

He was going to go crazy if we didn't leave soon, so I nodded and told him to go do it, and then called the twins back over.

"Whas goin' on, Ma?" Brady asked.

"Uncle Emmett and I have to go somewhere, but you guys are going to stay here with Edward for a little bit and then he's going to take you guys back home to play. Does that sound okay to you?"

"Yeah!" they replied in unison. I sighed in relief that they were alright with these arrangements.

"Great. Okay, I have to leave now, so you guys be good for Edward. I'll call in a little bit to talk to you, okay? And if you want to talk to me before then, just ask Edward and he'll call me."

I felt like there was so much more I needed to say, but my head was all in a jumble and I couldn't think of anything.

"Can we make a fort wif Ehwood when we gets home?" Lola asked anxiously.

I heard Emmett honk the horn. "I don't know, Lola-bug, that's up to Edward. Give me kisses. I love you." I kissed them and turned my attention back to Edward. "Okay, well, call if you need me. I'll keep my cell on, and if don't pick up just call again or try the hospital or…here, I'll give you Emmett's number."

I began searching for a pen but Edward grabbed my arm to stop me, "Bella, go. We're going to be fine. We'll make a fort and everything," he smiled, and Brady and Lola cheered in the background.

I impulsively threw my arms around his neck and hugged him, "Thank you s_o_ much, Edward."

He pulled me tighter against him and I felt a little of the stress and worry fade away. After a minute, I reluctantly let go of him.

"We'll talk to you soon," he said, smiling.

I nodded and waved goodbye to the kids, and then rushed out the door and into Emmett's car and we took off for the hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Oh, hell. What's going to happen to Charlie? And how do you think Edward will do with the bugs? And _what_ was that hug all about? Let me know what you think!

For those of you that like interactions with the twins, I know this one was a little light on that. The next one will make up for it, though. Oh, one more thing! I got a fandom twittuh, so if you wanna follow, I'll be posting fun stuff there, like update announcements and extra little teasers, different to the teasers I post on Mondays at A Different Forrest. Link's in mah profile, yo.


	5. Airplanes and Messy Dinners

**A/N:** Here you go, Edward's day with the twins! This chapter took me a _while_ to get out of my head and I'm not sure why. It's a bit filler-ish, but Edward bonding with the kids is necessary, so I wanted to include as much as I could. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Also, I didn't have as much time to edit it, so please excuse any mistakes.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 – Airplanes and Messy Dinners<strong>

**Edward **

Once the door closed behind Bella, I turned around to find both Brady and Lola standing there, staring at me.

"Oh…hey guys." Silence. "So…I have to make a call to my friend really quick so that we can get your car seats from your mom's car, and then we're going to go back and play at your house, okay?"

"Whas yo friend's name?" Lola asked.

"His name's Jasper. I think you guys saw him at the baseball game. He coaches with me."

"Where's Ma's car?" inquired Brady.

"It's still at her work," I supplied.

"How she get here, den?"

"Dih she fly?" Lola spoke up, flapping her arms in the air to demonstrate.

Before I could answer, Brady spoke up, "Yeah, dih she fly in a aehpane?"

"I like aehpanes. Can we go in da aehpane, too?" asked Lola.

"Yeah!" Brady agreed.

"Yeah!"

"Whoa, guys! Hold on. There's no airplane." I chuckled at their excitement over the non-existent plane, "I went to lunch with your mom and then I drove her here after. That's how we got here."

"Oh," they both replied, disappointed. _They're so cute._

"Sorry. But we'll have fun today, I promise. Let me just make this call and then we'll get to it." They ran off to watch TV and I dialed Jasper's number.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey man, it's Edward. Are you busy right now?"

"I don't have to be. Why, you need something?"

I explained to him the entire situation and he agreed to help, so I gave him Emmett's address because he had to come get Bella's keys and then we hung up. Also, just in case Bella was too preoccupied to do so herself, I looked up the number to the bookstore she works at to let them know that Bella wouldn't be back in, but apparently Bella had already informed them of what was going on.

Jasper arrived shortly after, and I told him where the bookstore was and thanked him for doing this. He seemed happy to help, but said that I "owed him", which I think probably has something to do with Alice and possibly getting her number since I had yet to do that.

Once Jasper left, it was around 1:45 and I figured it wouldn't hurt to give the twins a snack while we waited for him to get back with their seats, so I looked in Emmett's fridge for something that would work and got an idea. I grabbed out the celery and dug through the cupboards looking for raisins and peanut butter.

I snickered to myself. _How appropriate. Ants on a log. _

I wouldn't normally give peanut butter to kids considering the possibility of allergies, but when I was over Bella's on Tuesday she made them apples and peanut butter for a snack so I knew it was alright.

"Hey anteaters, do you wanna come help me make snacks?" I asked. They dropped the toys that they were playing with on the floor and ran into the kitchen where I was.

"Yes, please, Ehwood." Lola smiled.

I addressed Brady, "You, too, little man?" He giggled and nodded. "Alright then, hop up and you can each make your own."

I lifted them both onto the counter in front of me one at a time so that they could make their own snack between their legs on the flat surface.

"Have you guys ever had the snack called 'ants on a log' before?" They shook their heads. I picked up my piece of celery, "Okay, so what you do is you take your piece of celery, put peanut butter in the middle so that it's all filled in, and then you set as many raisins as you want on top of the peanut butter." I did this while explaining, so that mine was now a finished product. "See? Now it looks like ants crawling on top of a log!"

"Whys da ants raisins? Raisins don't gots legs," Lola reasoned.

"An whys da log gots peanut butter on it? Den a bear will eats it, Ehwood!" Brady added enthusiastically.

_Where do they get this? Oh, right, Bella's their mother._

I laughed, "We're just pretending. It's called using your imagination."

"Like on SpuhBob?" Lola asked.

"Uh…" I had no idea what that had to do with SpongeBob, but I wasn't about to question it, "Yeah, sure."

Apparently that was all they needed to know, so I helped them make their snacks, which went better than I expected considering it involved peanut butter, and then we all ate them at the table. Well, I ate mine. Brady and Lola each took one bite of celery and cringed. After that, they opted to eat the raisins off of the top and lick the peanut butter out of the middle. To be honest, I didn't really blame them. Celery's pretty disgusting with its crunchy, stringy texture.

As I was cleaning off their hands, I heard J pulling up in the driveway, so I asked the twins if they had to go potty (they didn't), put their shoes on, and made sure I had everything we needed before I locked the door and we went outside. As we were coming out, Jasper was in the process of putting the seats in the back on my car.

"Thanks again, J. I really appreciate all of this."

"Of course, I'm glad to help," he paused, grinning. "You know, not that the two things are related or anything, but I'm still waiting on Alice's phone number."

"…and there it is. Yes, I know, and I promise I will try to get it. I just get kind of caught up when I'm with her and forget to ask," I replied, hoping that would placate him.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I'm sure. Caught up daydreaming about those tattoos on her wrist, and then spending the next few days not calling her because you don't want to seem too desperate."

I may have let it slip to Jasper the other day about Bella's tattoos and how incredibly sexy I found them. He hasn't stopped teasing me about it since, claiming I have some sort of fetish.

_He might not be that far off the mark, actually._ _I've never had so many dreams about someone's wrists before._

"Should you be making fun of the only person who can get you in with Alice?"

"Oh, please," he scoffed, "you're not my only in." He bent down so that he was eye-level with the twins, "Hey, darlings. I'm Jasper," he smiled charmingly. "What do you guys think of Mommy's friend Alice?"

They both scooted back slightly, giving him shy smiles but remaining quiet. They weren't shy when I first met them, but that was probably because Bella was with them and they felt comfortable, whereas they didn't know me all that well yet. I hoped to change that, though.

"Seriously, you're going to ask them? I doubt they know her number."

"Well, no, but maybe they'll tell her about me the next time they see her. Ever think of that?" he replied smugly.

"Yeah, they seem really taken by you," I said sarcastically, looking at the two kids you were still sidled up to my legs.

"Oh, what do you know? They probably just don't know what to do with someone so good looking after having to deal with your ridiculous hair and goofy face. Isn't that right, little ones?"

"I like Ehwood's hayuh. An Ma do, too," Lola replied, surprising both of us.

"She towed Aunt Ally dat he gots six hayuhs," said Brady, holding up 3 fingers.

_Six hairs? What does…?_

My eyes went wide when I realized that Bella probably described my hair to Alice as 'sex hair'. I smirked at Jasper. _Now who's the smug one?_

Jasper laughed, "Well, I guess not everyone goes for good looks," he joked and lightly poked their bellies, causing them to giggle. "Hey, the next time that you see Aunt Ally, can you tell her Jasper said 'Hi'?"

They nodded, and we all said goodbye to Jasper as he got in his car and left. Then I buckled them in my car and we left for Bella's house.

...

"Okay, guys, for real though: how does it go on?"

We'd been at Bella's house for about 20 minutes, and after we got settled they decided that they wanted to play cars and Barbies. They'd been laughing at me pretty much since we started playing and I was starting to get frustrated. Not at them, of course, but at the damn Barbie and her stupid shorts that wouldn't fit right. I'd genuinely been trying to get them on for several minutes, and they wouldn't even go past her knees.

"Dose not for dat doll, silly. Dose for Barbie," Lola said, finally throwing me a bone.

"This IS Barbie!" I threw it down in defeat.

"Dats a Bwatz, Ehwood," supplied Brady, looking at me like that was something I should have known.

I huffed, "Right, well…I'm gonna stick with the cars over here. I'm not very good at playing with dolls yet."

Just as I was adding the last finishing touches to my and Brady's "supuh big" ramp, Bella's house phone rang.

"I'll be right back, guys." I stood up and raced out of their play room to grab the phone that was sitting beside her couch. The caller ID told me that it was Bella's cell. "Hello?"

"Edward, hey. How's everything going?" She sounded a little breathless, like she'd been running around.

"We're great. We just got here a little bit ago and right now we're playing."

She let out a relieved breath, "I'm so glad."

"How's your dad? Have you seen him?" I walked back into the playroom and sat back down in my spot so that I could keep an eye on the twins while I talked to Bella.

"We haven't been able to see him yet, no, but we found out what happened and they told us he's going to be okay. They said he's got a broken arm and some bruised ribs, and they think he has a concussion, as well. And that's on top of multiple wounds that required stiches."

"Jeez, I'm so sorry, Bella. What happened?"

She cleared her throat, "Supposedly it was a routine pull-over for speeding, but when my dad got out of the car the guy took off and he had to chase him down. They think he was selling drugs, and that's why he freaked out and bolted. But anyway, after a few minutes of cat-and-mouse, the guy saw that he was at a dead-end and whipped his car around but ended up putting himself right in the line of my dad's path and they hit head-on. He got it worse than my dad, at least."

"Wow. That's…so unlike Forks. I'm happy that he'll be okay, though. How're you holding up? Is there anything I can do?"  
>"Edward, please, you're already doing more than I could hope for by watching Brady and Lola. And I'm fine. I'm a little tired from all of the running back and forth trying to get information, but I'm okay."<p>

_She doesn't sound okay._

"Alright. But sit down and relax, okay? There's nothing more you can do until they come and get you."

She sighed, "Which will be soon, hopefully. I don't think I'm going to be home in time for dinner, though, so is there any way you could make them something? I've got mac and cheese in the cupboard, or there are sandwiches if you'd rather do that, it doesn't matter."

"Absolutely. Don't worry about having to get home, Bella. We'll be fine, and you need to focus on your dad."

"You're too good to be true," she sighed. "Seriously, thank you, Edward. I don't know what I would have done without your help."

"You would have figured something out, I'm sure. I'm happy to help, though. It's only been a little while and I'm already learning so much," I chuckled and turned to the kids, who were now using mouse-like voices to talk to each other with Legos.

"Oh yeah? What have the trouble twins taught you," she said with a mixture of amusement and sarcasm, "how to effectively make a mess in less than 2 minutes? Or maybe the art of singing along to songs in the car when you know approximately 3 percent of the words? Lola's got that one down pat."

"_Actually_," I began, "I now know the difference between a Bratz doll and a Barbie. I had no clue before."

She giggled, "Oh please, there's so much more they could be teaching you than _that_. You should have already possessed that information, anyway. It's common knowledge."

"Well, we still have a while. Give us time. I don't want to oversaturate myself immediately."

We both laughed, and I was glad I was able to distract her from the chaos for a moment. "Hey, can you maybe put me on speaker phone, please? I wanna say 'hi' to the kids."

"Sure." I pulled the phone away and pushed the speaker button, "Guys, Mommy's on the phone."

Both of their faces lit up and they yelled, "Mama!"

"Hi babies! Are you having fun with Edward? I miss you!" I could hear the excitement in her voice at being able to talk to them.

"Wen you be home, Ma? Ehwood wantsa play wif you," Lola said, and she and Brady laughed when I looked at them with a surprised, _why-are-you-ratting-me-out?_ face.

Bella laughed, too, and said, "I don't know about that, bugs. He said you guys were having a pretty good time without me." Her voice got quiet and she started to mock-whisper, "Hey, maybe if you ask really nicely, he'll take you guys outside and you can show him how we play hot lava on the swing set."

"Yeah! An I be da dragon and Lola-bug be da prihcess," Brady exclaimed eagerly.

"Can we dwess up?" Lola asked.

"If Edward doesn't mind, sure. You'll have to show him where the costumes are, though."

"Yay!" they both screamed, running toward the closet, I assumed to get the costumes.

"Okay, I gotta get going, but I'll see you both soon. I love you!" They mumbled it back while still searching, and then I took her off speaker phone and out it up to my ear again.

"Okay, you're off speaker now," I let her know.

"Thanks. You know, I have a pretty amazing warrior costume if you wanted to dress up, too, but I'll warn you that it does come with a skirt and fits me pretty snug, so…"

I coughed, "Um…I think I'll pass, but thanks." _But I _do_ want to find that costume so I can picture you in it._

She chuckled, "Okay, what else?" she asked, clucking her tongue in thought. "Other than dinner, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Ask them every so often if they have to go to the bathroom, but they're both pretty good about letting you know. Heads up, though, Brady just learned how to stand up when he pees and if he's not focused on the task at hand he could easily take out an eye. There was a massacre the other day involving him tripping, then slipping, then me having to get a new rug, so…just watch out for that."

I laughed, picturing the scene she was describing. "Okay, no distractions while peeing. Got it. Anything else?"

"Um…I'm not sure when I'll be home, so just in case, PJs are in their second drawer and I usually let them pick what they want to wear. Bed time ranges anywhere from 8:30 to 9:15, depending on their energy level, and I usually read to them for a bit and then turn off the light and leave the door cracked."

"Okay," I nodded, and then realized she couldn't see me.

"You're welcome to anything that's there, and I just went shopping so snacks are in excess. Laptop's on the desk in the living room, there are movies and Wii games next to the TV if you're bored…" she trailed off, trying to think of more to say, "…and I guess that's it. They know the routine, too, so if you need to know something you can ask them, or just call me."

"Alright, thanks for letting me know. We'll have fun. Right now Lola's helping Brady put his foot through the leg in the dragon costume, so I guess we're headed outside."

She snickered, "Okay. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yup. And remember, just sit down and relax now. They'll come to get you when they're ready."

"I know. You're right," she let out a long breath. "Bye, Edward."

I smiled at her sweet voice, "Goodbye, Bella."

After we hung up, I walked over and helped Lola with her tiara and straightened out Brady's tail, and then we headed outside to play hot lava. _Whatever that is._

…

We ended up playing a grueling game of hot lava, which, in case you didn't know, is a game where we climb around on the swing set and no one except for the dragon, aka Brady, can touch the ground. I'm not exactly sure what the point of the game is, but according to the twins, when Bella plays she does things like lowering the princess down the slide and pulling her up before the dragon can touch her, or climbing from the "tower" to the regular swing across the glider to the Tarzan swing and then "slays" the dragon at the other "tower" by pulling his tail and tickling him. _I don't know._

Anyway, after I thoroughly tickled the dragon, we went inside because I noticed that both Brady and Lola were yawning every 5 seconds and their movements were getting slower and much more clumsy, and I realized that they probably hadn't taken a nap today.

I looked at the clock once we got inside, and seeing that it was almost 4:30 and too late for a nap, I instead set them both up on the couch with a blanket and put on a movie for them. I figured I could get started on their dinner and if one or both of them fell asleep during the movie, I could gently wake them up with the promise of juice and mac and cheese, which I assumed would be an easy task to make even considering my tendency to burn and/or inedible-ize any food product that doesn't come frozen.

In reality, however, they both fell asleep within seconds of me leaving the living room, making mac and cheese was slightly disastrous (although the end-product was edible, surprisingly), and the twins were less-than-happy when I tried to wake them up. I'm talking that lion that ate the trainer-guy's hand less-than-happy, but with two lions.

_Well, Bella doesn't expect me to be perfect at this my first time, right?_

The dinner table was quiet for the first few minutes while the twins slowly continued waking up, both of them throwing scowls my way every few seconds.

"Are you guys gonna be mad at me forever?" I pouted overdramatically and sniffed as if I were about to cry.

Thankfully, they both found that funny and started giggling. _Yes! I'm out of the dog house!_

"I not mad, I tyuhd," said Brady, confirming his statement with a yawn and rubbing his eyes.

"I miss Ma. She comin' home?" asked Lola sweetly.

I smiled. "I miss her, too, and I know she misses you guys, but she's gotta be somewhere else right now. If you want, we can give her another call to say 'hello' after we eat."

"Mmkay," murmured Lola, then she perked up as she thought of something. "Hey, can wes build a fort?"

She and Brady started bouncing up and down in their seats, all signs of fatigue erased, waiting for my answer.

"Sure, we can still do that. How about after dinner we'll build the fort in the living room and then I'll take a picture of you guys in it and send it to your mom?"

"Yeah!" yelled Lola.

"She like piccuhs of us!" added Brady.

"I make silly faces like dis and she laughs!" said Lola, and then she made a silly face and threw her hands in the air to complement it.

Of course, she was still holding her spoon that was filled with mac and cheese, so it all came down on her head and the table. Brady started laughing at her stunned face and accidently spit his juice all over himself and what was left of his mac and cheese, causing Lola to laugh at him.

After getting over my shock at the accidental food fight, I couldn't help but start laughing along with them because…come on, it was funny.

When we calmed down, I looked around at the mess that I would have to clean up and sighed, "So…change of plans: Bath and _then_ we make a fort. Sound good?"

So with the new plan, I went on to semi-successfully give them both a bath and got them dressed into pajamas (that they picked out). After, we gathered up several blankets and headed down to the living room to begin our fort.

I put my amazing fort-making skills to good use, setting two of the kitchen table's chairs in the middle of the couch and the rocking chair, and covered them all with blankets so that under it was cloaked with darkness. After the twins decided to name our fort the "Brady and Lola Fort" (_Thanks, guys)_, we climbed in and played for a bit.

"Ehwood, you gotsta take a piccuh fo Ma!" reminded Brady, miming taking a picture with his hands.

"Yeah, I gotsta show her mys silly face, Ehwood."

"I don't know, Lola. Your silly face can get pretty messy." I tickled her belly. "Alright, let's go out and you can sit by the door for the picture."

I chuckled as they scrambled through the blankets and then sat on the ground at the entrance of our fort, adorably wrapping their arms around each other in a hug and facing me. I got the impression that they're used to posing for pictures.

"Okay, say 'mac and cheese'!"

They both said it and I snapped the photo on my cell and sent it to Bella. A few minutes later, 8:00 was approaching and the phone rang. Seeing it was Bella, I picked it up quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Edward."

Again she sounded out of breath, so I asked her about it. "Have you been running or something?"  
>"No. Well, kind of. My phone barely gets any reception on the floor my dad's on so I had to take the stairs to the main floor lobby. I got your picture, though. It made me smile." I could hear in her voice that she was smiling as she said that, too.<p>

"I'm glad. How'd you like our fort?"

She laughed, "It's amazing. I rarely put that much effort into them. Anyway, I don't have a lot of free time, but could you put the twins on? I want to say 'goodnight' to them since it seems like I'll be here for a while longer."

"Absolutely. I'll hand you to Lola first." I gave the phone to her and listened for a bit as she excitedly told Bella about our day through her eyes.

While I was waiting, I stood up and stretched. In the corner of my eye I saw a line of pictures on the fireplace mantle, maybe about 5, and after checking to see that the twins were still busy taking turns talking to Bella, I walked over and looked at them closer.

The first one on the left was a more recent one of Bella and the twins. She was sitting in what looked like a booth at a restaurant and had one kid on each side kissing her cheek as she scrunched up her nose and smiled.

The picture next to that was a picture of Emmett and who I assumed was Bella's father, based on his shared qualities with Bella and Emmett, standing on a boat with fishing poles and waving toward the camera.

I moved on to the picture next to that, the middle picture, and leaned in to get a better look. In the picture were two newborn babies who were most definitely Brady and Lola; I could tell by their little button noses and dark hair that they still have now. They were in the hospital, but the girl holding them was not Bella, and she was smiling, somewhat uncomfortably, at the camera with one baby in each arm. She looked way too young to be a nurse, but her eyes showed that she was really tired, almost as if she'd been up all night.

_Maybe she is a nurse, then._ _Although, she could be related to Bella. Maybe it's a sister she didn't mention or a younger cousin. If that's the case, though, why would the picture be in the center of all the others? That's a little weird._

Before I could muse anymore, Brady came over and tapped on my leg, so I turned around to look at him.

"Mama wantsa talk to you." He handed the phone to me and ran back to the fort to play with Lola.

I cleared my throat, "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey. I just wanted to see how everything's going again before I head back up."

"It's good, yeah. We're playing right now and then I was planning on putting them to bed in a bit. Any changes there?"

I heard her exhale loudly through the speaker. "Yeah, we're finding out more in little bits. We were able to visit him, but he's not very lucid from all of the meds he's on right now for the pain. All of the cuts and bruises make him look horrible, but the doctors say he looks worse than he actually is."

"I'm so sorry, Bella," I sympathized.

"Thanks." She paused, then sighed and said, "Okay, I gotta head back up. Thanks for letting me talk to them. I promise it won't be too much longer."

"You're welcome, and don't worry about it. We're good here."

After that, she thanked me again and then we hung up. I turned around and took one last glance at the pictures before heading back to the fort to play with the kids. They seemed like they had a second burst of energy strike from their talk with Bella, and were now running in circles around the outside of our fort.

I shook my head and chuckled. _Bedtime is going to be a blast._

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So, what are your thoughts on the chapter? How do you think Edward did? And who do you think was in the picture? Let me know!

P.S. Comic-Com. I am dead. The chemistry between the trio was top-notch this year. And Kristen as Snow White? I cannot.


	6. Sparkly Tattoos and MoodKilling Calls

**A/N: **Hello again! This is the longest chapter yet, so I hope you guys enjoy it.

Also, in case anyone was wondering what happened to it, I took down the picture of the "twins" that I had up on my profile. It was honestly just a picture I found off of Google that I thought was adorable and fit their personalities well, but apparently it's the children of another Twifan. So, as you can expect, it'd be a little awkward on both fronts to use the picture now, which is kind of a bummer but…oh well. Life goes on. And if you're the person whose picture that was: I'm terribly sorry. I hope I didn't offend. Anyway, on to the story!

Thanks to **rosellebec **for prereading!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Sparkly Tattoos and Mood-Killing Calls<strong>

**Bella**

When I finally arrived home, it was a little past one in the morning. I walked quietly through the door and made my way through the foyer, expecting the house to look like a war zone, as it always does whenever I leave the twins with Alice or Emmett or my dad. Surprisingly, though, from my vantage point everything looked neat and tidy. I strolled through the hall and turned into the kitchen. No dishes, no food on the wall, no anything. I continued into the playroom room. Spotless.

_This is almost better than Christmas._

I went upstairs and checked on the twins, who were out like the dead in their beds, and after kissing each of them goodnight I headed downstairs to see where Edward was.

When I walked into the living room (also spotless, by the way), there, sleeping on my couch with one of Lola's pink blankets sprawled across his chest, was Edward. As I moved closer to get a better look at him, I noticed that he had two fake tattoos on his face, one on each cheek. The one on his right cheek was what looked like a turtle of some kind, and on his left cheek was one that said "You go girl!" in sparkly letters inside of a purple star. I tried to stifle my laugh.

I pulled an actual, adult sized blanket off of the rocking chair and walked over to Edward, spreading it over his body after pulling off the pink one. Then, on an urge, I knelt down beside him and just stared, however creepy that was. _Whatever, he could deal. I owe him back for the kitchen incident._

He looked so adorably childlike in his sleep, and I wanted nothing more than to run my hand through his hair and kiss his temple. It occurred to me, then, that he was sleeping, and I _could_ do that if I wanted to.

Without overthinking it, I reached up and ran my fingers slowly from the tip of his forehead, up over the top of his head, and then down the back. _Oh my God, it's so soft._ I leaned forward, bracing myself on the side of the couch, and lightly brushed my lips against his temple, then again just above and to the right of his mouth. He shivered in his sleep.

_Shit_. _Okay, I have to stop before I do something stupid, like nuzzle his neck or climb on top of him like a kitten and just fall asleep._

I debated waking him up and telling him that he could sleep in my bed with me, but only because the couch was small and uncomfortable and it made sense and not at all because I really wanted to snuggle with him. But of course, I had to buy the biggest, fluffiest couch at the store and I knew from personal experience that sleeping on it feels like you're floating on clouds, so he probably would've caught on to my lie.

I sighed, accepting that I should let him be, and stood up to leave. Right as I was turning to walk away, I noticed him stir and then slowly blink his eyes open. _Score!_

"Bella," he smiled lazily, "hey. How's your dad doing?"

"Hey, sleepyhead." I sat down on the side of the couch. "He's good. A little shaken up, and a lot bruised, but he'll be fine. They're keeping him overnight because of the concussion, but if all goes well he'll be able to come home later tomorrow."

He sat up. "That's great. I'm glad he's okay."

"Me, too," I smiled. "How was it today? I'm so, so sorry that it took so long. I would have come home sooner but they were running tests and I didn't want to just leave him there and Em had to go pick up Rose at the airport –"

"Bella!" he interrupted, "stop. Don't worry about it, please. Today was…_amazing_. I had so much fun, and I think they did, too. We played cars and Barbies and made a fort out of blankets and I almost killed myself trying to make mac and cheese and got completely soaked giving them a bath; a bath that was absolutely necessary after Lola accidentally flung noodles everywhere and Brady spit his juice all over himself laughing. So I hope it's okay that I gave them one."

I giggled, "I prefer them to go to sleep without noodles in their hair, so yes, that was fine. I appreciate it."

He smiled so big and continued, "Okay. So then we read books and I even did special voices because they said that's what you do when you read to them, and by my fourth character voice, which, might I add, was pretty damn good, they were both sleeping. So…yeah…it was great." He exhaled, "They're amazing, Bella. You're an amazing mother."

It was probably from all of the emotion that was swirling around inside me from earlier today, but him saying those incredibly sweet things and being so damn excited over dinner mishaps and stupid nighttime traditions made my eyes fill with tears and I had to fight to keep them from falling. He must have noticed that I was getting all girly on him because he quickly scooted over and didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me in a hug, almost instantly causing the tears to start pouring down my face.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why're you crying?" he rubbed up and down my back soothingly and I buried my face in his neck. "It's okay. Shh, it's alright."

After a few moments I settled down and pulled away to sit back on the couch, bringing my legs up and wrapping my arms around them. "I'm sorry. I'm fine, really," I said, wiping under my eyes.

He didn't look convinced, "Bella, you can talk to me," he smiled sweetly, "I promise I'm a good listener."

I took a deep breath, and blew it out, "I don't know what that was. I guess I'm just tired, and with my dad and everything, I…" I shook my head and looked down.

"Bella, come on. Talk to me. It will make you feel better, and I want you to feel better after all of the stressing and worrying you did today."

I looked up and saw nothing but absolute sincerity in his eyes, and all of a sudden I really wanted to talk.

"When I was 10 and Emmett was 15, my parents got divorced and Em and I moved with my mom to a different house. We still lived in Forks, but my mom got primary custody and we only saw my dad every other weekend and one day during the week, and he hated that. He made sure to call us at least every other day and went to every one of Emmett's games and every stupid dance recital that I was forced to dance in. Then 6 years later, my mom met a traveling baseball player named Phil and moved to Phoenix with him like it was nothing; like she wasn't moving half-way across the country when she had a 16 year-old daughter and a 21 year-old son who still depended on her. So I ended up moving back in with my dad full-time while Emmett was finishing up college and I _swear_ _to_ _God_, Edward, you would have thought that man won the lottery. He was so happy that I was living with him again. The day we moved all my stuff back I legitimately thought his face would break from smiling too much," I couldn't help but smile at the memory.

"That's a sweet story. He seems like an incredible father."

"He is. He _so_ is. And then when the twins were born he would come over every day after he got off of work to see them, even when my mom was here for the first couple weeks, which I know was weird for him, but he came anyway. The second he got here he'd take them from me and make me take a shower or eat something or take a nap. He and Emmett were, _are_, so good to me. Just imagining him not being there during that time, or the thought of losing him now…" I trailed off. "I don't know what I would've done, or what I'd do if things turned out differently today. I'm so lucky to have him."

"He's going to be fine, Bella, so don't even think about that." He scooted closer to me. "And he's pretty damn lucky, too. I don't think you realize how much you give him back in return, just by being in his life. I think he and Emmett are the lucky ones, and I don't have to know them well to know that they'd agree with me."

I was so tired, but Edward's sweet words were churning up something inside of me and it made me feel more awake than I'd felt all day.

But because I suck at taking compliments, I deflected, "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm sure there are times when they'd disagree with you," I laughed without humor. "I haven't always made their lives easy."

Edward looked contemplative, and I saw him glance quickly in the direction of my fireplace, then back to me, "Are you talking about before the twins were born? When you found out you were pregnant at such a young age?"

_Whoa. That was unexpected._

I didn't really know how to respond to that. I already felt off-balanced with him since I had told him so much about myself today but had yet to learn anything real about him, so I wanted to change that before I spilled that whole story.

"That's…a long story for another time. And I should get to bed. The twins will no doubt be waking me up early tomorrow," I grinned, trying to change the topic.

He looked…disappointed? Confused? I wasn't sure, but then he stood up and began folding the blanket I had laid over him moments before. "Okay, well…I guess I'll get out of your way, then."

"Edward, it's 2 in the morning. Why don't you just stay the rest of the night? I'll even switch you and you can sleep in my bed if the couch is too small."

"No, it's fine. It's exceptionally comfortable, actually." _Told ya. _"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Don't be silly." I stood up next to him and smiled, "I'll see you in the morning, Edward."

"Yeah, okay. Good night, Bella."

Before I could rethink it, I stood up on my toes; holding on to his upper arms for support, and kissed his cheek. When I lowered myself back down I saw him smiling at me, and I smiled back shyly. "Thank you for today…and for listening."

He nodded and I walked past him up to my room for a few hours of sleep. Sleep that, unbeknownst to me, would be filled with dreams that all centered around Edward.

…

After the twins woke me up with our morning routine, we trickled down the stairs and into the living room where Edward still laid sleeping.

"So whose idea was it to put tattoos on Edward's face, bugs?" I whispered.

With that question, Brady grabbed my wrist and turned it over to see his name, and when Lola noticed what he was doing, she did the same. They've always loved my tattoos, especially when I told them that they say their names.

"Ehwood like yos," he whispered back, placing his finger on top of the black ink.

I watched them as they traced the letters. "What do you mean he likes mine? Who told you that?"

Lola looked up at me, "His fwend said it."

_His friend? Jasper?_

Before I could question them further, Edward made a muffled grunting noise, alerting us to his waking. The twins dropped my hands and skipped over to stand by his face in front of the couch.

As their mother, I should have probably advised them that staring isn't polite and had them at least step back so that their noses weren't an inch from his, but I was actually looking forward to his reaction, to be honest. I knew from experience that there's something oddly terrifying about waking up with two very little, very still children breathing down your neck, no matter how cute they are.

His eyes opened and he instantly jerked his head back into the couch. "Whoa!" His voice was scratchy and deep, still filled with sleep, and his face morphed into momentary fear.

The kids started laughing immediately and I joined them, because really, it was funny. _If only I got the first time they did this to Emmett on video. Hilarious._

I stepped around the couch and sat by his legs, pulling the twins up onto my lap. "Well good morning, friend. I hope you enjoyed your night at Hotel Swan. Unfortunately, we charge extra for creepy wake-ups from giggly toddlers, so we're going to have to include that in your bill."

He face changed to amusement and he sat up. "What? I don't get a discount for not snoring and picking up our messes before I fell asleep?"

"Oh, I forgot to thank you for that last night. You didn't have to do that. Although I won't lie and say that seeing the house that clean didn't get me a little hot," I deadpanned. His smile disappeared and his jaw dropped slightly. I stood up, grinning, and walked into the kitchen, leaving Edward to his own devices. "Anyway, I'm gonna make breakfast. Come, my creepy children!"

After an acceptable amount of time, Edward walked into the kitchen looking sexily disheveled and running his hand through his hair. _You're not the only one who's done that in the last 12 hours, sir._

"Hey, how did you get home last night? If Emmett left to pick up his wife, that would've left you without a car, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I called a cab service ahead of time to drive me home." I set down a plate of eggs and toast in front of the twins and turned back to the stove.

"Oh. Well, after breakfast I'll take you guys to get yours back from the bookstore if you want."

"Are you sure?" I scooped eggs onto two more plates for Edward and I and started buttering our toast. "I mean, you don't have to. I feel like you've done way too much for us these past 24 hours."

"Bella," he sighed and sat down next to Lola, tugging playfully on her ponytail, "when are you going to learn that I don't offer unless I want to? I'm happy to help. Plus, you're making me breakfast. We're tied."

I sat down next to Brady and across from Edward. "Okay, then. Thank you. I want to take the twins to see Grandpa, so having my car would be helpful in doing that." I grinned.

"Oh yeah? You're going to visit him today?"

"Yeah. We'll probably end up taking him home if he's good to go, too. His car is totaled and he'll probably be too tired and drugged up on pain meds to drive, anyway."

I kind of wanted to ask him if he wanted to come with us since I hadn't really had the chance to spend much time with him, and to be honest he looked like he might want the same thing, but I thought that would be a little weird.

_Hey Dad, this is Edward. I've only known him for about a week but, you know, he wanted to say 'hi'._

"Wes go to Grapaws?" asked Lola before she shoved a huge spoonful of eggs in her mouth.

"Yay!" exclaimed Brady, lifting his arm and spoon up in the air.

"Actually, Lola-bug, Grandpa hurt his arm and his head last night, so he's still at the doctor's right now getting fixed. We're going to go see him there. That's why Edward played with you guys yesterday; so that Mama and Uncle Emmy could go see him."

"Oh," she looked confused, "his head falled off?"

Edward and I chuckled, "No, he just bumped it pretty hard, that's all."

"I bumps mys head lots," said Brady, nodding.

"Very true, although that's because you're a clumsy little dude. Grandpa hit his head because his car crashed."

"Like BOOM?" he smacked his hands together to make a loud clap.

"Like boom," I affirmed, nodding grimly.

I resumed eating, and when I went to take a drink I realized that I forgot to get Edward and myself one. Instead of getting up, I reached for Brady's cup to drink from his.

Edward put his hand on the arm I was using to lift the straw to my mouth, "Bella…no."

I looked at him, confused. "What?"

"You're gonna drink that?"

"Um…yeah? I'm thirsty."

"I can get you something to drink. You don't have to drink that." He grimaced as he eyed the cup.

I held it up to inspect. "What's wrong with this?"

"There's..." he made a disgusted face and swirled his finger around the top, "egg all over the straw and stuff."

"Well…we _are_ eating eggs, you know."

"Yeah, but…there's probably eggs inside of it, too. And toast bits."

"Once again, Edward, we are eating those things. What's the problem?"

"Bella, that's gross! His chewed up food is floating around in there, I can see it." He was literally trying not to gag.

_This is hilarious. He's so fun to mess with. _

I kept my eyes on his and smirked, bringing the straw to my mouth and setting it on my lower lip. He actually started gagging and the kids looked on in amusement. I set the cup back on the table.

"Oh my God, chill _out_. What is the big deal? He's my son. How is drinking this any different from taking a drink when you still have your own food in your mouth?"

He slid the cup back toward Brady as if he were protecting me from it or something. "It just _is_, girl. That's…not right." He stood up to get me my own orange juice with disgust still written all over his face and I couldn't help but laugh.

…

Once we were all finished, I got the kids dressed and Edward, thoughtfully, offered to play with them while I took a shower and got ready. Then, after Edward scrubbed the fake tattoos off of his face, we loaded up in his car and headed to my work.

"Ehwood, go fast again!" yelled Brady from the back seat.

I eyed Edward, and he turned his head slightly and put his finger to his mouth, shushing him, "_Dude_! Secret, remember?"

Brady and Lola responded with giggles, and Edward turned back to me with an apologetic smile.

"Edward Cullen, we're you speeding with my children in the car? While I was at the _hospital_ with my dad, who had just gotten in a _car_ _crash_ from a high-speed chase?" I asked, but smiled a bit to let him know I was joking. Kind of.

"No! No, I wasn't speeding, I promise. They just thought it was funny when I would take of fast after we were stopped at a light. That's it."

I eyed him skeptically, "What kind of influence are you?"

He exhaled, "Come on, I was just trying to get them to like me." He pouted this adorable little pout and I couldn't keep my façade up anymore.

"I'm kidding, dude. And you don't have to worry; they already like you."

"Yeah?" he looked at me with sweet, vulnerable eyes, as if my kids liking him were the most important thing.

"Yeah," I replied seriously with a genuine smile.

He relaxed a little. "Okay, good. That's good."

Just then we pulled into the bookstore parking lot and Edward parked next to my Jeep. I got out and opened the back door to get Lola out while Edward did the same with Brady.

Once the kids and their seats were transferred to my car, I walked to the driver's side door, opened it, and turned toward Edward, who was standing in front of me with his hands shoved in his jean pockets.

"Thanks again, Edward. You were a lifesaver yesterday. Really."

"You're welcome. Thanks for trusting me with them." He smiled at me and then opened one of the back doors to talk to the kids. "I'll see you later, anteaters. Have fun with Grandpa."

"You not comin' wif us?" asked Lola.

"Oh…um," he paused, looking at me, "I don't think…"

"You can," I interrupted before I could stop myself, "I mean…if you want. You don't have to or anything, but if you wanted to…" I trailed off, not knowing if offering for him to come see my dad in the hospital was completely inappropriate at this point in our friendship. _Or whatever this is._

He smiled, "Yeah…sure. I'd love to meet the man you raved about last night. Let me just grab my keys from…" He was cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing. "Oh, sorry, one second."

He pulled the phone out of his pocket and his brows furrowed. The smile he was wearing slowly faded away and his entire body tensed while he just stood there and watched his phone ring until it stopped.

After a few seconds, he was still staring at it, so I tried to get his attention, "Edward?"

He quickly snapped his head up, "Oh. Sorry. Um…sorry, I can't come. I need to, uh…" he distractedly pointed to his car and started walking to the driver's side.

"Edward, are you okay?" His mood had completely changed from a minute ago. He looked like he was going to be sick, or like a ghost had just called him. "Edward?"

"Yes!" he yelled, startling me. "Yes, I'm fine. I just have to go." He jumped in his car and sped off without another word.

_What was _that_?_

…

Despite the fact that I was worried about Edward and wondered why he had to leave so quickly, I decided to give him a little bit before I called him and instead let my focus shift to my dad and us visiting him.

We stopped at the gift shop on the way in and I let the kids each pick out something for him. Brady picked a blue t-shirt that said "Still Kickin'", and Lola chose a pink teddy bear that said "I Love You" on its shirt.

After I paid, we walked up to the floor he was on and I let the twins knock on his door.

"Come in!" my dad yelled from behind the door. We walked in and his face lit up when he saw I had them with me.

"Grapaw!" Brady and Lola both shouted as they ran toward him.

"Hey, munchkins! I've missed you guys. What do you have there?" he peered at what was in their hands.

"We gots you feel bettuh gifs!" Brady held up his shirt, and my dad glared at me.

I put up my hands in defense. "He picked it out," I said, then smiled and kissed his cheek. "Hey, daddy. How're you feeling?"

"I'm much better than I was yesterday, promise." Then he addressed the twins, "I love my feel better gifts. Thank you so much. Bells, will you lift them on my bed so I can see them better?"

"Hop up, bugs," I lifted them both on opposite sides, "but be careful of his arm and his belly. That's where he got hurt."

They asked him a bunch of questions about his injuries and casts and the car accident, and my dad spent a few minutes explaining to them what happened in a way that they would understand. Somehow, though, it turned into a lesson on how you should never run while holding scissors, which I guess is fine since it's good advice and all but otherwise had nothing to do with what happened to him.

When they were done catching up, the twins wanted down and went to play with some things in the corner that I'm not sure they were supposed to be playing with, and I turned my attention back to my dad.

"So…how are you really?" I asked, giving him a sympathetic look and checking out the cast on his arm.

He chuckled, "Bells, I swear to you, I am fine. Despite what movies make people think, this accident didn't cause me to reevaluate my life, I haven't decided my profession is too dangerous, I'm not suddenly terrified of driving or pulling people over, and I'm not going to fall into a spiraling depression that causes me to get fired and lose my house."

"Alright, alright. You don't have to get all sarcastic on me, old man. I was just making sure."

"I know, and I love you for that, but after I heal up everything will go right back to normal, where I work during the days, fish on the weekends, and you _don't_ let strange men watch my grandchildren." He smirked, letting me know he was joking but at the same time knowing I would feel compelled to argue with him anyway.

"Oh, shush. He's not a 'strange man'. I told you that last night, but you were probably too high from the pain meds to remember."

"Well I wasn't too high to remember that you wouldn't tell me anything about him when I asked. What up wit dat?"

I laughed at his attempt to be hip, despite the fact that he was trying to get me to talk about this again. _He's such a dork. No wonder Emmett's the way he is._

"I didn't tell you anything because we had other things to talk about, like your broken arm and concussion, for instance," I countered.

He gave me an unimpressed look, "Oh, c'mon, Bells. You're not even trying with that excuse. Give me something or I'll ask the twins."

I shrugged, still feeling a little off since Edward's abrupt exit earlier. "I don't know, Dad. His name is Edward, he teaches third grade and coaches baseball," I ignored my dad's wide grin at that admission, "and I met him about a week ago in the park." _Oh, and I kind of want to do dirty things to him. No biggie._

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" He smiled condescendingly. "How did he do with the kids yesterday?"

"Great. They were sleeping when I got home, the house was picked up, and they've been raving about him all morning. He even kept them company for me while I took a shower earlier."

My dad's eyes narrowed and he cocked his head. "He was still at the house this morning, huh?"

I rolled my eyes, "Of course, Dad. I mean, I couldn't just let him drive home after all of that hot, steamy sex we had. I doubt he would have been able to stay awake after –"

"Bella!" He cringed and waved his good arm next to his head as if trying to whoosh away what he just heard.

"Well, I'm sorry! But you and Emmett are too curious for you own good, so you deserved that. _Yes_, he stayed the night last night, on the _couch_. Satisfied?"

I grumbled, "Hardly."

After another hour of visiting with him – ten minutes of which I spent doubled over in laughter after Lola "accidentally" pushed a button on his bed that caused his IV to tug on his casted arm and knock into his face – we said our goodbyes and left. It turned out that they still needed him to be there for a little while longer so that the doctors and nurses could do everything they needed to do, so Emmett was going to come by later when he was discharged.

…

When we got home, the kids and I took a late nap since I didn't get much sleep the night before, and when I woke up before them I figured it was as good of a time as any to call Edward and see if he was up to talk about whatever it was that made him leave so suddenly this morning.

When I called, I got sent directly to his voicemail, which told me that his phone was off.

_Okay, I guess he _doesn't_ want to talk._ _That's fine, I guess. _

What wasn't fine was when I called him the next day and it rang 2 times and _then_ went to voicemail, which told me that _he_ sent me there.

I continued to do this once a day, every day, and once a day, every day I got sent to his voicemail. No call backs, no texts, no "Hey, quit calling me, you stalker-who-I-hate-and-want-nothing-to-do-with", no nothing.

…

When Friday came, six days after I had last seen or talked to him, I told myself that I would call him one final time. One last attempt, and then after that, I was giving up and taking the loss. The thought of that made me incredibly depressed, which in turn confused me.

_Why can't I get over this? I've only known him for _two_ weeks, one of which we've had absolutely no interaction._

Shaking my head, I decided I was just going to get it over with, so I found him in my contacts and pushed send. I would call, he would send me to voicemail, and I'd move on without any answers or any Edward. He could take the last two weeks and shove them up his finely-toned–

"_What_, Bella? What do you want?" _Oh my God, he picked up! I didn't plan for this!_ "Bella?"

He sounded sad, and broken, and…irritated. _He's _irritated_ that I'm calling him? That I want to talk to him?_

My anger spiked, and my heart hurt, but I masked it and replied calmly, "Nevermind. Goodbye, Edward," and then I promptly hung up and dropped my head in my hands. I couldn't deal with this 180 he was pulling. I had to stop caring.

Trying to clear my head, I stood up and went into the playroom to play with Brady and Lola. Spending time with them always makes me feel better, no matter what. Before I could sit down, however, the phone started ringing, so I turned back around and went out to grab it, surprised to see that it was Edward calling.

I thought about sending it to voicemail, wanting to give him a taste of his own medicine, but I'm not a vengeful person and didn't want to stoop to his level, so with that decision, I closed my eyes and put the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

There was a pause, and then, "I'm sorry."

That was all he said; all he offered to me as an explanation for blowing me off this past week.

"Okay," I replied. He stayed silent, which caused my anger to erupt again. "Edward, if you don't want to talk, that's fine. I don't care. Just…whatever. But I'm sick of the silence, so I'm gonna put you out of the misery that talking to me obviously causes you and say goodbye. Again."

"Bella, stop. I'm sorry. Truly."

"What happened last Saturday?" I demanded, fed up with this already.

"Nothing," he replied, "it was nothing."

"Bullshit. You get a strange call, leave as fast as you can, and then ignore my calls for a week? Quit lying."

I heard him take a sharp intake of air, "Me?" he scoffed. "You're one to talk!"

_He's turning this around on _me_? Oh hell no…_

"What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean?"

"Who is that in the picture you have above your fireplace, holding the twins?"

"I…wait, what?"

To say that I was shocked to hear him ask that would be an understatement. I had no idea when he had even _seen_ that picture, and I definitely wasn't expecting him to ask me about it _now_, in the middle of this conversation, so it momentarily stunned me speechless. I could hear him breathing heavily through the phone, waiting for my answer.

I stood up straight and walked over to the picture in question, running my finger over it. I blew out a breath, "That girl is my angel."

"What? What does that mean?" he responded, annoyed. "What are you talking about?"

"She's Brady and Lola's biological mother, Edward."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Wuuuuuuuuut? Do you hate me? Let me know your thoughts, and I'll see you next Tuesday!

P.S. If anyone wants to make me a banner, I wouldn't turn you away or anything... ;)

P.P.S. I'm in the running for Fic of the Week at The Lemonade Stand! That's AWESOME! If you'd like to, go to tehlemonadestand . blogspot. com (without the spaces) and you can vote for AET in the poll on the side. Love you all!


	7. Story Time and Avoidance

**A/N**: So…_hey_. I'm so, so sorry for lying to everyone ad saying the next chapter was going to be posted last Tuesday. My laptop completely crashed on me and I had to buy a new one after the techy people told me my old one wasn't salvageable and blah blah blah. Anyway, I apologize for the wait and hope you'll be able to find it in your heart's to forgive me for my untruthful, wicked ways.

Did you guys hate me for the cliffie? It was a necessary evil or else the last chapter would've been way too massive. Anyway, I'm sure you don't care what I have to say right now, so continue on. But real quick: thanks for all of the love. You guys are rocking my socks. :)

Also, if you're not getting review replies and wondering why, it's probably because you have your PMs disabled. You have to change that if you want me to reply back.

Thanks to **rosellebec **for her suggestions when she prereads!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 – Story Time and Avoidance<strong>

**Edward**

"_The girl in the picture is Brady and Lola's biological mother, Edward."_

I can't say that I have ever been quite as shocked as I had been when I heard those words come out of Bella's mouth. I was _literally_ stunned speechless. So speechless, in fact, that after a minute of complete silence on both our parts, Bella, annoyed, ordered me to "just come over" and hung up the phone without another word.

Now, in my car headed to her house, I couldn't stop the millions of questions that were coming at me in quick succession, all of which I didn't have an answer to.

When I called her back after she hung up for the first time (rightly so, might I add, as I was being a dickhead), I didn't really have any idea as to what I was going to say when she picked up.

So when she did, I quickly realized that I should have thought of something, _anything_ beforehand, because instead of making it right, which I desperately wanted to do, I ended up throwing a lame apology at her, brushing her off, and then projecting onto her, which pretty much negated the apology and instead made her even angrier with me.

_I'm a real catch, huh?_

I don't even know why I mentioned the picture. I mean, I was curious about it, sure, but it wasn't like I consciously thought that Bella was lying to me, or that I was even entitled to an explanation if she had neglected to tell me something (_hypocrite, much, Edward?_). I really just wanted to change the subject. She was insisting on an answer to something I didn't want to talk about, so I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind in order to do that. I definitely wasn't expecting to hear what she said.

That girl in the picture is Brady and Lola's mother.

_So, what, Bella adopted them? Or…wait, are they even legally hers? What if she's their foster parent? Would I care if that were the case?_

_It definitely would make things difficult in the future if their biological parents ever got their shit worked out. I don't know if I'd be able to deal with that._

_No, Bella would never consider letting them go back with someone else; she loves them way too much. It's gotta be adoption. Those kids are hers, plain and simple._

_But would she have been old enough to adopt when they were born? And who would choose a young, single girl to adopt their twin children?_

_Ugh…this is so confusing. I need to stop arguing with myself and talk to Bella._

In hind sight, things did make a bit more sense in this scenario. I understood now why Bella would change the subject every time I mentioned her pregnancy or twins running in the family or something else that would connect them by blood. And this also explains why I've never heard anything about their father.

Just as my mind was about to ponder up 3 million more questions, I finally pulled into Bella's driveway. With the decision to stop overthinking this, I trudged up to her front door and knocked. After only several seconds, the door flew open and there Bella stood, looking tired and annoyed.

"Come on in," she said sharply. "I'm just getting the kids ready for bed." She turned around and walked away, leaving the door open. Despite her obvious anger with me, seeing her for the first time in a week made my heart race and my hands sweat. I realized just how much I had missed her.

After a moment to collect myself, I walked in, shutting the door behind me, and found them in the living room. Bella was just finishing getting Brady's pajama top on when they both saw me approach and ran toward me.

"Ehwood!"

They stopped in front of me with curious eyes, probably wondering what I was doing in their house at 8:30 at night. _Your guess is as good as mine, guys._

I bent down to their eye-level. "Hey, anteaters. How are you?" I hugged them. Seeing them again made me realize just how much I've missed _them_, too.

I thought I heard Bella sigh from the couch.

"Good!" said Lola, "Mama's gonna tell us our story again uhnight!"

Brady nodded, "Yeah! You wanna listen, too, Ehwood?"

I finally looked back to Bella, question in my eyes, and she nodded curtly, so I answered sincerely, "Of course. I'd love to hear."

Bella switched the TV off, and then scooted back against the side of the couch. Each of the twins climbed up so that they were sitting on one of her legs, which were bent so that they could lean back on her thighs and get settled. Once they did, Bella smiled and leaned forward, kissing each of their cheeks and causing them to giggle.

I tentatively walked across the room and sat in the chair opposite them. I couldn't help but notice how Bella was deliberately avoiding making eye contact with me during all of this.

"Okay," she addressed them, "you ready?"

They both nodded, so she took a deep breath, her eyes moving to mine and then quickly looking away, and then she began the story.

"One day during the summer after my first year of community college, I was at the book store putting new books on the shelf, kind of how you guys help me do sometimes when you visit me at work. But on this day, I saw this _beautiful_ girl who was sitting on the ground crying in the children's section. I wondered why she was so sad, so I went up to her and I –"

"An you make her feel bettuh, right?" Lola interrupted.

Bella nodded. "That's right. I sat down beside her and I asked her what was wrong. I said, 'Why are you crying?', and the girl looked up at me with her wavy brown hair and tear-filled eyes and told me she was crying because she was pregnant. That means that she found out she had a baby growing inside her."

"Is two babies, doh, huh?" asked Brady. It was obvious to anyone that they knew this story by heart.

"Well, yeah, but that part doesn't come until later. Be patient, grasshopper." Bella poked his nose and continued, "So anyway, while most people are happy when they find out they're gonna have a baby, this girl was a little sad because she was so young, and she and her boyfriend weren't ready to take care of a baby." She paused. "You see, when you have a baby, it takes a lot of time and money and patience, and this girl didn't have a job and hadn't even started her junior year of high school. She was about 3 ½ years younger than I was at the time."

"How old was you, Ma?" Brady wondered.

"I was almost 20, and the girl was barely even 16. She didn't know what to do. She was afraid to tell her mommy and daddy because she didn't want them to get mad at her, but she still wanted to love the baby and keep it safe. So I told her that everything would work out, just as long as she always made sure her baby was healthy and taken care of and that she loved it more than anything in the whole wide world, and by the end of our talk she was feeling much better, and she left with a smile on her face."

Bella smiled a bit at the memory and grabbed a hand from each twin to hold in her own.

Before I could stop myself, I blurted, "What happened after that?"

Her eyes snapped to mine and I looked down in embarrassment. Before I could look back up, I hear her continue.

"For the next month that went by, the girl would come into the bookstore every day and we would talk. She'd tell me about how it went telling her parents and her friends and she'd tell me everything that she wanted to do with her baby when it was born. During that month we became very close friends, and every day she became more anxious for the baby."

"But not one day," Lola added.

"Not one day, no," she agreed. "There was one day when she came in and was crying again; just like she was on that very first day I met her. When I asked her why she was crying, she said, 'I'm crying because I just got back from the doctors, and he told me that I'm having twins!'. The girl had not one, but _two_ babies growing in her belly."

The twins eyes' grew large and I found that mine were exactly the same. While they knew, and I assumed, this part of the story, Bella was telling it so passionately that we couldn't help but get caught up.

"The problem with this was, while one baby needs a lot of money and time and patience, two babies need even _more _than that, and the girl just wouldn't be able to provide all of that and keep the babies healthy and safe at the same time. She still had to go to school and she didn't have a job and she and her boyfriend weren't together anymore. So in the end, she made a very hard, but very brave and selfless decision to put her babies up for adoption. Even as much as she wanted to keep them, she knew in her heart she wouldn't be able to care for the babies like they needed to be cared for."

"She was sad, Ma?" asked Brady.

"She was; very much so. But you know what?"

"Huh?" they both replied.

"Making a decision like that proved that she loved those babies so much, because by giving them up she was giving them a chance at a life they deserved; that every baby deserves."

"Den what?" asked Lola.

"When the girl told me she couldn't be the babies' Mommy, something clicked inside of me. I realized that there was a reason that this girl came into the bookstore that _I_ worked at and that _I_ was the one that found her crying that day. Despite everything that was going on in my own life at that time, I recognized in that moment that I had unknowingly fallen in love with those babies, and I knew without a doubt in my mind that I wanted, _needed_ to be their mommy. It was like meeting this girl was fate; she was an angel sent to change my life in the best possible way."

"_Angel_," Lola said, testing the word out.

Bella tucked Lola's hair behind her ear and nodded. "So I asked her, _begged_ her to let me be the babies' mommy. I told her how much I loved them and how I could be the one to love them more than anything else in the world." She paused. "When she told me that I could, it was the happiest I had ever felt before. No previous moment had even come close to what I felt right then, and no moment after, until…" she trailed off purposely.

"'Til me an Lola-bug was borned!" said Brady excitedly.

Bella smiled a huge grin and nodded, "…until a few months later, on February 4th, a little boy named Brady Charles Swan and a little girl named Lola Emily Swan were born, and then _that_ became the happiest moment of my life. It was the day that I got to meet the two people who I knew I would love for the rest of my life. That was the day that I got to hold you," she tapped under Lola's chin, "and you," she did the same to Brady's, "in my arms for the first time, and I told myself that I would never, _ever_ let you go. Never ever."

I let out a long breath that I didn't know I was holding, which startled Bella so much the she almost jerked the twins off of her lap. I smiled slightly in apology. _She forgot I was here. I don't blame her. _I_ kind of forgot I was here._

The twins both leaned forward and Bella hugged them to her chest. I noticed that she had tears in her eyes that hadn't fallen, and that alerted me my own tears that were running down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away, completely and utterly shocked that I was crying.

"I love you, Ma," Brady said sweetly.

"An me, Ma. I love you mo' dan chocuhlit," Lola added, just as sweet.

Bella tucked her chin down to her chest, in between where they were laying their heads, and nuzzled them, rubbing their backs simultaneously.

"I love you both more than chocolate _and_ ice cream put together," she said, sighing happily.

I, on the other hand, was over on the chair currently losing my shit. I hastily pawed at my face.

_Damn never-ending tears…I am so glad that she's too absorbed in the twins right now to notice me crying like a little girl._

When my eyesight was no longer clouded, I realized I spoke too soon, because when I looked up I saw Bella staring at me with a strange expression on her face and her head cocked to one side. _Awesome. I'm probably creeping her out right now._

When I caught her staring, she dropped her eyes back to the twins, who were already sleeping soundly on her chest.

She looked contemplative and then after a moment tried to get up, only to realize that she couldn't successfully do so with them both laying on her.

Like an idiot, I just sat there, staring. A few seconds passed and she cleared her throat, "Can you…um, do you think you could take one?"

"Oh!" I jumped up, "absolutely. Sorry." I walked over to her and carefully grabbed Brady and transferred him to my shoulder, then I stuck out my hand for her so she could get up.

She hesitantly took it, and then quietly mumbled, "Thanks."

I followed her up the stairs and into the twins' room, where she laid Lola in her bed and then kissed her forehead. I laid Brady in his and, somewhat awkwardly stepped back, and Bella came over and kissed his forehead, too. I followed her back out of the room, down the stairs and into the living room again.

She plopped down on the couch and looked up at me expectantly. When I stood there, not saying anything, she asked, "So? Any more questions?"

I rapidly ran through the thousands floating around in my head and picked one out. "Where is she now? Their…biological mother, I mean."

"Several days after the twins were born she and her parents moved to a different state so she could finish school. They had planned the move early on because she knew she wouldn't be able to handle being so close. I didn't blame her. I think they're in Michigan right now, but I'm not sure since it was a closed adoption."

"And what about her boyfriend? Their…dad." I asked

Her face darkened a bit when I called him that, understandably. "He didn't want anything to do with her or the babies from the second she told him she was pregnant. I don't know much about him other than the necessary stuff for medical purposes, and that he's a complete douchebag."

_Here, here! Bastard._

She didn't seem to care that I was asking questions, so I kept going. "How were you able to adopt them when you were so young? I mean, you were only 20, and you weren't married…er, right?" _Right?_

She laughed bitterly, "No, I wasn't married, Edward. The legal age to adopt is only 18, and considering I recently came into a shit-ton of money and I was the biological family's first and only choice, it wasn't that difficult of a process. But just in case, I made sure to buy the house beforehand and did everything I could to prove that I'd be a fit mother to the state and the adoption agency. I wasn't going to take any chances when it came to getting my babies," she said firmly.

"How did _your_ family take the news that you were adopting twins?"

"Everyone was a little weary at first, of course. They wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into, but when they saw I was adamant, that I was already irrevocably attached, they supported me fully."

I took a deep breath and finally sat down on the couch next to her. "Wow. I don't know what else to say, Bella. What you did was…amazing. What you're _doing_ is amazing."

"I'm being a mother, Edward. It's no different than any other situation of a mother mothering her children."

"Exactly," I replied matter-of-factly, "that's my point."

She smiled a little and looked down; the first smile of the night that wasn't directed at the kids. _Progress!_

I was still curious about something, though. "Bella, what made you want to tell them the story? I mean, if it's a closed adoption, they don't have to know, right?"

She jerked her head up and looked at me straight in the eyes, "I want them to know. It may be unconventional, but there's nothing wrong with our story."

My eyes went wide. "No, of course not! That's not what I meant."

Her features softened, but she still continued, "I don't want them to ever think that they weren't wanted by someone. I refuse to have those children who find out they were adopted way later than they should and then think that it was kept secret because of shame or pity. By telling them this story, they'll grow up knowing that they were wanted by not only by their biological mother, but that my choice in adopting them was one that I didn't think twice about; that I wanted them more than anything else."

I leaned back against the couch and tried to take it all in. This night, starting with the calls and ending with…well, right now, had been a complete whirlwind. All of this new information was making my head spin.

I turned my head toward Bella and smiled. "Thank you, Bella."

She didn't return my smile. Instead, she looked curious. "Why are you thanking me?"

"For telling me your story. I could tell that's something special between you guys."

She sighed and looked down at her hands. "It is, I guess. I mean, it for sure is, but telling other people…I mean, it's not like I intentionally kept it quiet. Like I said, I am in no way ashamed of it, but at the same time it's not like I can or want to bring it up immediately to every new person I meet, because then it would seem like it defines us or something. I don't know. I don't think I'm making sense."

"No, you are. I get it. It didn't really come up naturally, you're right. I actually wasn't talking about that, though. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you told me, but I was thanking you more for letting see how you tell _them_. For trusting me to see that."

She was silent for a while. I assumed she was pondering what I just said, but then she scoffed and said, "Yeah, trust. What's the saying about that?"

"What?" I asked, confused by the quick change in her mood.

"Something about it going both ways, or…? Maybe I'm getting it wrong." She finally looked at me and her face was angry again.

_Ah, now I understand where's she's going with this._

"Bella…" I shook my head, "I trust you."

"Oh, really? Great. What happened last week, then?" she asked, diving right in.

"_Nothing_. Nothing happened, it was just…a bad week."

"Okay, then who was it that called you last Saturday that made you leave us so quickly?"

I felt my face go pale and my heartbeat speed up. _Why did she have to ask the _one_ question that I really didn't want to answer?_

"I…"

I knew that if I didn't give her an honest answer she would know, but I also knew that I really didn't want to talk about this, so I didn't know what to say in response.

Bella growled in annoyance. Like, literally _growled_. Then she shot up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, and like a lost puppy I followed her. She started pacing back and forth in front of the stove and muttering to herself while I stood in the doorway and wondered what to say or do next.

Before I could come up with anything, she abruptly stopped and turned towards me with fire in her eyes.

"You know what? You were right. What you just witnessed between me and them _is_ special. I've never told them that story with anyone else listening before. It didn't start out as a huge deal because they were so young and at the time it was just a story to them, but sharing that has become something really special between us."

I didn't understand what she was getting at. "Yeah, I could tell. They love hearing it, and when you tell it you tell it with such…reverence."

"Okay, so what does that say about me that I didn't think twice when inviting you over tonight?" I tried to answer but she kept talking, "Because to me that says that I've been incredibly naïve. I mean…" she began pacing again and she spoke, "I obviously think way differently about whatever this is" she waved between the two of us, "than you do. So…whatever. My mistake, I guess. Lesson learned."

"No, Bella…" I couldn't have her thinking that, "I promise, you don't. This…friendship means a lot to me; more than I can even express."

"Well then why don't you trust me? Why do you refuse to tell me anything about yourself other than the superficial shit that you'd tell a complete stranger?"

"It's just different! What you're asking about is a really, really personal thing to me."

I knew the second that it left my mouth that that was the wrong thing to say, but I knew it even more when her face morphed into absolute rage.

_Mama Bear's coming out, claws and all._

"You don't think that what I just told you isn't _personal_ to me?" Her voice was strained, almost as if she was trying really hard to hold back her screaming.

"No! I didn't mean it like tha–"

"Are you dying?"

_What? _"What? No, of course not."

"Is someone you know dying?"

"No…"

"Are you married? Have a girlfriend? A kid I don't know about? Are you in love with your second cousin?"

"No! Bella, why are you –"

"Then _what_, Edward? What is it that's so personal to you that you can't bother sharing it to someone who just shared with _you_ the biggest, most important moment of her life?"

I threw my hands up in frustration, "Argh! This is just coming out all…wrong."

She sighed, "Well here's an idea: why don't you leave until you can figure out how to make it come out right. I'm done here."

She turned to walk away and, like the dumbass I am, I reached for her hand to stop her. I looked into her eyes, pleading for her to understand that I just…couldn't right now, but all I saw was resignation.

"Bella, please, don't. I don't know what to say."

"Yes, you do. You just won't." She pulled her hand back. "I'm going to bed. You can let yourself out. Lock the door behind you, please."

And with that she left me in her kitchen and walked upstairs. Hanging my head in defeat, I walked to her front door, opened it, locked it, and then drove home.

…

After I got home, I couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened at Bella's and how it could have gone down so much better if I wasn't such an amazing fuck-up.

She was right, I knew that. She trusted me with such a huge thing that happened in her life and I have been refusing to tell her anything in return.

And it's not like I don't trust her; I _do_. She has been the only person besides Jasper and my parents that I've let myself trust since I've moved here. Telling the story of what happened between Tanya and I has never been one that I've told willingly.

_Actually, I've never told it to anyone, willingly or not. Besides my parents, of course, but that was sort of unavoidable, unfortunately._

The fact of the matter was that my past embarrassed me. It's been something that I've felt shameful about for far too long because of what I let her do to me.

_Don't you mean what you _still_ let her do to you, Edward?_

The effects that I let her have on me, then and now, made me so furious, and yet I still allowed it to happen whenever she called me.

_How am I supposed to explain that to Bella? What will she think of me when she finds out how pathetic I really am?_

As I continued to ponder that, my cell phone rang. I rushed over to the counter where I left it, hoping that it was Bella who was calling, even if I still had no idea what to say to her. Unfortunately, the caller ID showed me that it was my mother.

Dejectedly, I answered the phone, "Hey, Mom."

"Hello, dear! I'm so sorry to be calling you this late."

"Mom, it's only 10:00; don't worry about it. I wasn't sleeping."

"Are you alright? You sound a little sad." _Leave it to my mother to notice my mood from ten words over the phone._

I tried to perk up my voice a little so she wouldn't worry. "I'm fine. Just a little tired. Why are you calling?"

"Oh, right! I was just calling to remind you of our annual barbeque next Saturday. It starts at 1pm, and bring your suit because there will be swimming."

"Right, I remember. Jasper and I will be there."

"Great!" she paused, and I could tell she had something else that she wanted to say. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like it.

"Was there anything else, Mom? I was actually just getting ready for bed." I really was very tired, and I had to stifle my yawn as I spoke.

"Well…I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to invite your friend and her children to come as well?" She phrased it to sound like a question. "I haven't heard from you all this week so I figured that you'd been spending a lot of time with them and would want them to come."

_Ugh, I so do not want to get into this with her right now._

Rather than argue, I decided to let her have this one, "Sure, Mom. I'll ask. But don't get too excited; I have no idea what her plans are for the weekend." _Or if she'll even be talking to me._

"Of course, dear, I won't! Oh, I'm so glad you're asking her! Okay, well let me know soon so we can get a final head count!"

"I will."

"Okay, well I love you, dear. I'll talk to you soon."

"Love you too, Mom. Goodnight."

After we hung up, I went into my room and got ready for bed, thinking about how I was going to try and get Bella talking to me again. I really screwed this up, so I knew whatever I was going to do would have to be good.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Ooooo, that got pretty angsty, didn't it? I apologize if it was too much for you.

So what do you think? How do you feel about the twins being adopted? Did that stun anyone or was it the worst kept secret in fanfic? Anyone have any guesses as to what Edward's story is? Let me know! I'll see you next Tuesday.


	8. Park Take Two and LateNight Cleaning

**A/N**: Did you make it through the week okay? I hope so. :) Thanks to everyone who review and/or favorited/alerted AET. I wanna be your best friend.

The shirt I describe Bella wearing in this chapter is on my profile, if anyone wants to see it.

Lastly, thanks to **rosellebec **for her suggestions and prereading!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 – Park Take 2 and Late-Night Cleaning<strong>

**Bella**

_Rawr_.

I think that would adequately describe what my mood had been like since Edward left last night. _Or…since I told him to leave, I guess._

The frustration I was feeling over the entire situation was literally (okay, not _literally_) eating me alive, so instead of keeping all of my thoughts and questions inside, as I had been doing the past week, I called Alice and asked if she wanted to spend the day with us. In other words, if she wanted to listen to me rant about the shallow, superficial things going on in my life at the moment.

And because she's Alice and she loves us and loves gossip even more, she readily agreed, so we decided to meet at the park since the kids and I usually play there on Saturday mornings anyway.

When we arrived, she was waiting for us by the swings with a coffee in each hand and an eager smile.

"Aunt Ally!" the twins yelled, detaching themselves from me and running across the playground to where she was standing.

"Hello, my lovelies!" She set the down the coffees and gathered them up in her arms. "Oh, I've _missed_ you guys. We need to never go that long without seeing each other, capish?"

"Capish!" they both replied, smiling.

She picked up Brady and placed him in a child's swing, so I followed suit with Lola. After grabbing the coffees off the ground and offering me one, we began pushing them side-by-side.

Once they were thoroughly under-dogged and distracted by their own giggles, Alice turned to me with an expectant look on her face.

"Of course, it's not really _their_ fault their slutty mother met a dude and has ignored me for a week, excluding a few short phone calls, now is it?"

I snorted at the 'slutty' part of that comment. _Yeah, right. Take whatever the opposite of that word is and then subtract 10 lays and you'll have what I am._

"Okay, first of all, my dad's been pretty needy lately, so he's taken up a lot of my free time, and second of all, I've barely talked to the 'dude' you're referring to at all this week. That's kind of what I wanted to discuss with you today," I said, looking a little sheepish at my admission that I had an ulterior motive for inviting her out with us.

She didn't care about that, though. "Oh, my God, I'm such a horrible friend! I haven't even asked you about Charlie yet!" Her eyes were wide and she looked mortified by this discovery. "How's he doing, hun? Is he getting around okay?"

I waved her off, letting her know it didn't bother me that she forgot to ask about him.

"He's doing great. His ribs are giving him some trouble and having his arm out of commission is pissing him off, but he's recovering quickly. I may have exaggerated his neediness a bit." I held my fingers a centimeter away from each other and smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay then, since we have that subject sufficiently out of the way…" she trailed off.

I ignored her, turning back toward Lola and focusing on pushing her swing, purposefully attempting to get Alice riled up. It worked, of course.

"Bella! Come on! You're the one who brought it up."

I laughed. "I know. I was just trying to elevate your blood pressure. You make it very easy."

"Very funny. Spill, please. What's going on with you and Sex-hair?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

I glared at the nickname, but then sighed, "I don't know, Ally. He's just being weird and secretive." I paused. "I told him about the adoption, by the way."

"Really?" I nodded. "How did that come about?"

"Well, you know how he watched the kids for me when I had to go to the hospital with Charlie?"

"I believe I do, yes."

I cocked my head and gave her an exasperated look."Your sarcasm is unflattering."

"Continue," she demanded, impatient.

I sighed. "Well, everything went really great. They had fun and he was wonderful with them. Actually, that whole first week we hung out quite a bit and he was always so kind and genuine and I'm pretty sure we even had a few _moments_, you know? That sounds stupid, but whatever. I mean, I think he definitely cares at least a little bit."

She looked at me condescendingly. "Hun, I'm pretty sure he cares more than a little bit."

I glanced at my feet, unwilling to broach that subject further. "Anyway, when I got back from the hospital, he was really caring and totally sweet with me after I had a mini meltdown, and in the morning–"

Her eyes went wide, "The morning…?"

I put my hand up to stop her line of thinking in its tracks. "No sex. No nothing. It was just really late so he stayed over." Her face dropped, but she waved for me to continue. "So yeah, in the morning he was good, too. He even drove us to get my car. And then, all of a sudden, he got this phone call that made him start acting really strange, and he made up some non-excuse about having to leave and took off without any explanation. The week that followed, this last week, he deliberately ignored my calls. Every single one."

Her face scrunched up. "Jeez, that is weird. Who was it that called him?" she asked curiously.

I groaned. "I don't _know_! That's what he's being secretive about. He won't tell me. And it's not just that, either. When we went to lunch he got all fidgety and weird the second I started asking him questions about himself."

"Hmm…" she tapped her chin in thought. "So how did telling him about the adoption come into play? That wasn't why he ditched you, was it?" Her eyes morphed into instant rage.

"No! No, that just happened last night. After about a week of him ignoring me, I decided to try calling one last time, and he actually picked up, but he was a total asshole." I whispered the last word for the sake of the twins.

"How so?"

"He was being really short with me, and then when I asked him what was up he basically called me a hypocrite. He said that he saw the picture of the twins and Emily above the fireplace and asked me about it. I told him the truth, because it's not like I was actively keeping it from him or anything, and he was shocked, understandably. He didn't say anything for a while, and I got annoyed and told him to come over and ended up explaining it all," I said, shrugging.

"Wow. Was it really awkward?"

"I mean…not really. I kind of ignored him at first and then when the twins fell asleep he asked a few basic questions and that was it."

She nodded, turning back to Brady for a moment and grabbing his feet so that he stopped mid-air, tickling his toes. I did the same with Lola before focusing back on Alice.

"And then after that, he _thanked_ me for trusting him enough to share the story with him," I continued, scoffing.

"What? And he called _you_ a hypocrite?" she said, getting worked up again. You can say many things about Alice, but she's innately loyal. When someone she loves isn't being treated right, she doesn't take it lightly.

I shook my head. "I know. That's what I said. But instead of him divulging anything in response, he told me that he trusts me, but that the story is 'too personal'," I said, using air quotes and filling my voice with sarcasm. "I basically lost it after that and told him to leave before I did something stupid, like knee him in the junk."

She huffed. "I kind of wanna bite him. Can I bite him?"

I laughed, already feeling better from being able to vent. "No, you can't. I just had to tell someone. I'm so…annoyed with it all."

"Rightly so, I'd say."

"And yeah, we've only known each other for a small amount of time and I don't expect him to spill everything right away, but an explanation for why he ditched us would've been nice, you know? I mean…right? Or do you think I'm being too demanding, too soon? Should I have just let it go?"

I've never been one to let go of things easily, so that wasn't a likely option, but I wanted her opinion.

She shook her head, which granted me a little relief. I've been worrying that maybe I was asking too much of him.

"No, I don't think so. That might have been the case if it was an issue that didn't affect you at all, but it has. And what did he think he'd do after ignoring you for so long, just call you up one day and pretend it didn't happen?"

I shrugged, not having an answer to that. Now that she brought it up, though, my mind kept throwing questions at me.

_Would he have initiated contact eventually? Was he trying to completely cut me out and only picked up the phone when I called him out of annoyance at my persistence?_

_But he said our friendship meant a lot to him last night, didn't he? He seemed like he cared._

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts of this stupid dilemma and instead letting myself focus on the twins and playing with them again.

For some reason, they think hitting people with their feet when they're swinging is the funniest thing on Earth, so I purposefully let Lola crash into me and exaggerated throwing myself backwards as if she knocked me over. Alice did the same thing with Brady and we continued this game for a few minutes, laughing and faux-falling to the ground.

After a while, we calmed down a bit and Alice turned back to me, biting on her bottom lip with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You know…" she started, "even though he's being weird right now, I saw you guys at the baseball game, and you looked really happy, Bella. Just…if you think he might be worth it, keep working at it. Maybe he's got insecurities that he's afraid will make you think differently of him, and that's why he's not talking."

"Yeah, maybe." I smiled sadly. "We'll see how it goes, I guess."

She perked back up. "So, change of topic if you don't mind?"

"Be my guest," I approved.

"Jasper," said stated plainly.

_Okay_. "Jasper…what?"

"I _need_ him, Bella," she whined.

I raised my eyebrow in question, "And? What do you want me to do about that? I don't think Edward and I are even talking right now."

"Ehwood!" yelled Lola. _Whoops._

"No, bug. I was just talking to Aunt Ally," I said, stopping her swing because she was wiggling so much.

"Ehwood!" Brady mimicked, trying to climb out of his swing as well.

Alice and I lifted them out and I bent down to talk to them. "No, you guys, we're not seeing Edward. I was just–"

"Bella," Alice interrupted, "it's Edward. He's _here_."

She pointed behind me to a bench where, in fact, Edward _was_ sitting, reading a book and looking perfectly aloof. It was the same bench that I noticed him sitting at on the first day that we met.

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. Or what I should do.

_Should I go over there? He's bound to notice us at some point and I don't want it to seem like we're ignoring him. _Am_ I ignoring him?_

Of course, my internal rambling was rendered pointless when the twins darted out from in front of me and headed in Edward's direction. I stood up, put on my game face, and then Alice and I followed them.

Alice half-whispered as we approached, "Is this gonna be awkward?"

"Yup," I sighed.

When we arrived at the bench, Edward didn't look at all surprised to see us. In fact, he almost looked like he was expecting our presence, smiling a little before he glanced up from his book. _Interesting._

"Hi Ehwood! I like yo face," said Lola, reaching for his chin and touching his day-old scruff.

I unconsciously licked my lips. _Mama does too, bug. Mama does too._

He smiled at me and then gave her his attention. "Hey, Lola! And, um…thanks, I guess. This is what happens to my face when I don't shave it." He made this crinkled-up face that I would have thought was adorable if I wasn't so annoyed with him. _Oh, who am I kidding? It's still adorable._

Brady looked horrified. "Why you shave yo _face_, Ehwood?"

He laughed. "Because if I don't, I'll look like a yeti monster."

Brady turned to me with big eyes. "You shave _yo_ face, Ma?"

I realized then that putting the majority of my attention on the kids could be the perfect buffer in avoiding any serious contact with Edward, so I picked up Brady and nuzzled his cheek, causing him to giggle and squirm, and then pulled back to look at him.

"No, dude, I do not. Only boys have to shave their faces; kind of like how only girls shave their legs." _Not exactly true, but close enough for a 2 1/2-year-old._ "Have I ever looked like a yeti monster to you?"

"Suntimes," he shrugged nonchalantly. Alice and Edward laughed and I tickled Brady in retaliation.

"_What_? Lola-bug, you don't think Mama looks like a yeti monster, do you?"

"I like Sulley on Monsters, Inc.," she replied, nodding, and then sat down in the grass and started making her hands talk to each other. _Right…okay._

Her nonsensical segue didn't throw off Brady, who asked to be let down and joined her in her hand game, unintentionally leaving me buffer-less.

Still warring with myself on what to do next, I kept my eyes on the twins awkwardly, avoiding looking at Edward even though I could feel him staring at me.

Thankfully, Alice stepped up to the plate. "Hey, Edward. It's nice to see you again."

"You, too, Alice." He paused, and I could hear the hesitancy in his voice before he spoke again, "Hi, Bella."

I decided that meting his eyes wouldn't kill me and looked up, smiling tightly. "Hey."

It seemed like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself and looked away uncomfortably.

Alice looked back and forth between the two of us. Sensing that neither was planning on saying anything else, she addressed Edward again, "So, do you guys have another baseball game tomorrow?"

"Yup. Every other Sunday," he said, pursing his lips and nodding.

"Awesome." She smiled and then glanced casually around the park.

He tapped his fingers on his legs. "Yeah, it'll be fun."

_God, this is unbearably awkward._

Apparently, Alice felt the same way, so she rolled her eyes and huffed. "Okay, this is weird. I'm gonna go take the twins to play on the twisty slide. Come on, guys."

_Gee, way to be subtle, Alice!_

"Yay!" they yelled, getting up and grabbing her hands as she walked away, leaving me here to die alone in this cocoon of discomfort.

I sighed and looked down at my feet. "Right. Um…I'm just going to go with them. I'll talk to you…" I stopped, rethinking that statement, and then just said, "Bye."

Before I could turn around, he stopped me, "Bella, wait. Can we talk, please?"

I ran my hand through my hair nervously, "Uh…sure. What do you wanna talk about?"

"The fact that I'm an idiot?" he exhaled loudly. "Bella, I could barely sleep last night after what you said, about me not trusting you and that I felt differently about…us…I mean, this…" he spastically motioned between the two of us, trying to get his point across.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

It was obvious that he wanted me to retract what I said, but I didn't necessarily believe that it wasn't true, especially with my earlier thoughts of whether or not he was ever planning on contacting me again running through my head.

When he realized that I wasn't planning on saying anything else, he stood up and took the few steps that were between us until he was so close that I had to look up to see his eyes.

"It's…embarrassing to me, Bella. I don't want you to think that I'm…" He stopped, trying again, "I feel so stupid that I let it get to me."

His eyes were scared and vulnerable, and I wanted to hug his worries away, but I knew that a hug wouldn't solve anything.

"Edward, I'm not here to judge you, and I'm not trying to push you to tell me something that it's obvious you don't want to tell, but it's just…it's not fair for me to be the only one willing to let down my guard a little. The walls that you put up...they're towering over you. I mean, if your hair didn't stick up so much I wouldn't even be able to see it. _That's_ how tall they are." I threw in a joke, trying to diffuse some of this built up tension we had going.

It worked, and he smiled, running his hand through his long locks self-consciously. "I know. I know they are." His smile evened out and his face turned serious again. "I'm trying, okay? Can I just…have a little time to think it over, without you being mad at me?" He was begging me with his eyes. It reminded me of a little boy. "I can't take that."

"I'm not mad," I said. "Frustrated, sure…but not mad. And yes, you can. Just don't take too long," I smiled slightly, "we miss you." He smiled at me in return, making mine grow even wider.

"I won't, I promise." The relief in his voice was evident. "Thank you for understanding."

"No problem." I kicked at the dirt nervously. "Um…I'm sorry I kicked you out of my house last night."

He laughed, shrugging it off. "Nah, I deserved it. I'm sorry I was an asshole on the phone. I was just projecting."

"I know. It's no big deal." I turned to see Alice and the kids sliding down the yellow twisty slide while hooked to each other like a train. "Alright, well…we have to get going in a little bit and I want to get in some more play time with them before then, but...we'll talk later?" I phrased it like a question, still a little unsure of what was going on with us.

"Absolutely." He smiled. "Bye, Bella. Tell Alice and the kids I said goodbye, too, please."

"I will." I nodded, lightly touching his forearm before I spun around and started walking away.

"Oh, and Bella?" he called.

I turned but kept walking backwards, rolling my eyes in mock exasperation, "_Yes_, Edward?"

He smirked. "What the hell is on your t-shirt?"

I stopped walking and looked down at my shirt to remind myself what I was wearing and then smiled. "Dude, all the cool kids know who Brobee is. Next to DJ Lance, he's the most amazing thing _on_ Yo Gabba Gabba." I smiled and waved goodbye while he stood there looking completely confused.

…

After we left the park, the rest of the day sort of went by in a blur.

I had some errands to run, so Alice tagged along because she had nothing else to do. Of course, she made me give her the play-by-play of what Edward and I talked about after she left me hanging. She was irrationally happy that things were looking up. I, on the other hand, was still a bit mopey while we strolled through the aisles at the grocery store.

"Nothing has really changed, though. He still hasn't told me anything, and now I feel like we're stuck at a standstill until he decides if he can or not. I feel like he's judging if I'm worth it or something."

"Oh, quit being dramatic. You know that's not what this is. He's just scared and stalling. Let him work up some courage, for goodness sake. And being stuck in one place is better than moving backwards, you know. Stop being so damn pessimistic and look on the bright side, woman!" she said, smacking my ass playfully.

I jumped, surprised by her action. I tried swatting her back but she had already moved to the other side of the aisle, predicting my attempts.

"I wants candy, Ma," Brady said from the front of my cart. I cocked my eyebrow at him and he amended his statement, "Please."

"Not today, Brady-bug. We've got other things to get."

"Fruit!" yelled Lola. The girl eats fruit like it's going out of style.

"We do need fruit, chica." I turned my cart to head in that direction.

Brady pouted and threw his hands over his face, then began fake crying theatrically. He just started doing this the other day and it's actually pretty funny to watch. He sounds like a dying hyena.

Lola started giggling, which egged him on and his noises became even more high-pitched.

_I don't know who he thinks he's fooling, but I'll give him points for the effort._

I looked at Alice and winked. "Uh-oh, Aunt Ally. I think Brady's _so_ tired that he needs to go home and take a nap instead of playing. Oh, well. I guess Lola-bug and I will have to play alone, then."

Brady popped his head up quickly and looked worried at my claim. "Nuh-uh! I wanna play, too!"

Alice chimed in, "Then what's with the crying, little man?"

He furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest. "'Cause I wants candy."

I bent down to his eye-level. "I know that, bug, but I said not today. Is that a reason to start crying in the middle of the grocery store?" I leaned forward and gave him eskimo kisses when he wouldn't answer. "Huh?"

He cracked a smile and dropped his arms. "No."

"That's right." I stood back up. "And jeez, dude, you sounded like a cat being tortured. You gotta work on that."

Alice laughed and then continued on with our previous topic, "Anyway, Bella, just give him a little time. I'm not saying you have to keep confiding in him when he's not doing the same with you, but don't write him off just because he's got issues."

"I wouldn't do that. God knows _I'm_ not one to judge on that front with all my baggage," I chuckled.

"Exactly." She smirked, and then sped her and Lola's cart past Brady and I before I could respond.

_Little pixie!_

…

The next day, the kids and I were in the kitchen and I was in the middle of painting abs on all of us with washable paint when someone knocked on the door, so I set down the paint brush and stood up to go answer it.

"Oh, hey Ang! What's up? Come on in." She eyed the pink on my stomach, shaking her head in amusement as she walked inside. She knew me well enough to not be surprised by my strange antics.

"I was just out and about doing some things and since I was passing by your house I thought I'd drop off your check for you," she said, handing me the envelope.

I took it from her. "Oh, you didn't have to do that. Thanks, though." I led her into the kitchen where the twins were sitting on chairs waiting for their paint to dry. They looked up when we walked in and smiled at her.

"Hi guys! Whatcha doin'?"

Lola flexed her arms, "Wes gots muhsohs. Rarr!"

"Coooooool. You guys look super strong." She turned to me as I was retying the top of my bathing suit around my neck. "You're ten kinds of weird. You painted six-packs on your children?"

"I wasn't finished yet, _Angela,_" I paused for dramatic effect, "I was going to paint mustaches, too, before you interrupted us." I grinned and then addressed the kids, "Alright, I think they're dry enough. Are we ready to party hardy?"

"Yeah!"

They jumped down from their chairs and ran toward the back door, waiting for me to let them out.

Once we got outside I turned on the sprinkler and then Ang and I sat in lawn chairs and watched them run through it, but not before I had her take a picture of all of us with our six-packs. _That one's going above the fireplace._

"So how's it going babycakes? How's your dad?"

"He's much better. Every day he's healing more and getting back to his old, independent self." I smiled at her before turning back to the kids. "Whoa, Lola. Pull up your bathing suit bottoms. You're flashing the world, bug."

She reluctantly complied and I giggled. At this point, the paint on their stomachs had started dripping down their bodies and they looked like melting human popsicles.

Angela laughed. "Well, I'm glad to hear it." She paused, and then her smile grew mischievous. "Speaking of that incident…who was the luscious sounding man who called me last Friday?"

My face changed into one of confusion. "What do you mean? Someone called you?"

"Yes. Shortly after _you_ called to tell me you wouldn't be back in, a man called and told me the same thing just in case you had forgotten or weren't able to. He didn't say his name, but I thought I heard Brady yell 'tomato' in the background."

"Oh," I nodded, "that must have been Edward. He watched the kids for me while Em and I went to the hospital. I didn't know he called you. Why didn't you tell me that this past week?"

She shrugged. "It didn't really come up. So who is this _Edward_? How come you haven't mentioned him to me?"

I looked at my hands shyly. "I don't know. He's just a friend. A new one. That day was crazy and he offered to watch them and…I don't know."

"A friend, huh?" I could hear in her voice that she thought I was bullshitting her.

"Yup," I replied, refusing to look in her direction.

"Hmm," she pondered, "okay then."

Thankfully, she dropped it, and we switched to talking about work and the kids and other non-Edward things, although he stayed in the back of my mind the whole time. After a little while she patted my knee and stood up, ready to leave.

"Alright, I should get back to my day. It was nice seeing you guys, even with your weird fake muscles." She eyed my stomach, shaking her head. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

I chuckled. "Bright and early. You guys, say goodbye to Angela!"

They both yelled bye, not bothering to turn and look at her as they were too busy ripping grass from the lawn and sticking it to their wet bodies. She waved to me once more, smiling, and then left.

…

Later in the evening after I put the kids to bed, I changed into a ratty tank-top and a pair of boxers and went down stairs with the intent to clean.

After the twins were born I'd gotten into the habit of cleaning at night since it's much easier to pick-up and use cleaning products when they're not making more messes as I go and I don't have to worry about them spraying themselves in the eye with Lysol or anything.

I cranked up the volume on my iPod and clipped the baby monitor to my shorts so I could feel if there were any sounds since I wouldn't be able to hear it over my music. Then, after I gathered all of my supplies, I began mopping the kitchen floor and singing along to the music while I cleaned.

After about 20 minutes and two verses into Metro Station's "Shake It", I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped, whipping around and swinging the mop in front of me to defend myself from whoever had obviously broken into my house.

Once my heart slowed down enough for me to realize that I was flinging dirty water all over Edward's face, I yanked my earphones out and pushed him in the chest. Hard.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you? I could have killed you!"

He looked a little shocked at first and then his faced morphed into a smug grin. "With a mop?"

I eyed my weapon of choice and then sighed, putting my hand over my heart and leaning over. "Oh my God, I think I'm going to have a heart attack. Holy shit. Fuck." Once my heart beats returned to a normal pace, I stood up and scowled at him. "How did you get in here?"

"I tried to call you a few times, but you didn't pick up, so I came over to see if everything was okay. I saw that your car was here but you didn't answer the door when I knocked, and it wasn't locked so I got nervous and just came in," he rambled nervously. "I'm sorry I scared you. I was just worried." He looked appropriately remorseful and sincere.

I sat down the mop and plopped into a chair so I could calm down a little more. "Well, you should be. I literally think I'm dying right now. I'm going to overdose on adrenaline or something." I looked up at him. "What if I was sleeping? Did you ever think of that?" My head was still spinning slightly. The cleaning product fumes probably weren't helping. "_Fuck._"

"My, my, Ms. Swan. You have quite the potty mouth when caught off guard," he said, smirking.

"Fuck off," I replied, smiling to let him know I was joking.

He returned the smile. "I didn't think about the fact that you might be sleeping. Although, it is only 9:30, and I would hope that you lock your door when you go to bed."

"I do. I wouldn't want any supposedly innocent elementary school teachers coming in because they're 'worried about us'," I replied jokingly. "Really, though, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not entirely terrified to see you or anything."

His expression changed from an easy-going smile to obvious distress and he looked down at his feet. After a few seconds, he looked up again. "Can we…do you think now would be a good time to talk…maybe?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So _now_ he wants to talk, huh?

Sorry, I didn't intend for this to be another cliff-hanger, but shit happens, you know?

So what did you think? Are you happy I didn't drag out their little squabble or do you think I should have let it stew a little longer? Let me know, and I'll see you again next Tuesday!


	9. Tellall and Tipsy Calls

**A/N**: Nice to see you all again, friends. I know you all have been waiting for Edward's story for a while now, so I won't bore you with my talking. :)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9 – Tell-all and Tipsy Calls<strong>

**Edward**

It took me a long time of sitting at my house, pumping myself up before I finally got the courage to call Bella. When she didn't pick up after the third time, I was determined to not let my courage fade before I was able to talk to her, so I rushed over to her house to hopefully talk in person.

Now that I was here, though, it was obvious to both of us that I was stalling. After I scared her to death and then asked if we could talk, and she said yes, I grabbed the mop that was sitting next to her and took over cleaning the floor as a distraction.

_I really like her tiling. I wonder what shade of white that is._

After a moment, she wordlessly grabbed a washcloth and began cleaning the countertops, and then we were _both_ cleaning her kitchen in silence, waiting for me to figure out how to start.

When I walked into the living room with the intent to start vacuuming, Bella finally had enough. She grabbed my hand before I could start the vacuum and held it in hers.

"Dude, why are you cleaning my house?" she asked, smiling up at me sympathetically.

My free hand went to my hair. "Uh…I'm stalling."

"I had no idea," she chuckled. "You're aware that you came to me, right? I mean, no pressure, but it was your idea to come here and talk." She began rubbing her thumb over my knuckles, which was helping to soothe my nerves a bit.

I eyed our clasped hands, which caused Bella to realize what she was doing. She tried to pull away, but I held it tight so that she couldn't. She exhaled loudly.

"Do you want to sit down, maybe? Or we can talk and clean. I'm definitely not against others cleaning for me," she said, smirking.

"Yeah, we can sit," I nodded, pulling her hand to sit next to me on the couch. Having her close suddenly felt very necessary in order to tell her the story. _And she's not getting her hand back._ I cleared my throat, "Um…"

That was about as far as I got.

_Let's try some _real_ words, now, Edward._

She jumped in when I didn't continue, "Would it help if I asked questions?"

I bobbed my head up and down, "Yeah. Yes, let's do that instead."

"Okay," she started gently, "who was it that called you last Friday?"

I cringed, and then swallowed nervously. "It was…Tanya? She's my…my ex."

Bella bit her lip at that admission, but didn't show any other signs of an outward reaction. I continued to stare at my hands.

Bella spoke up, "Well, why did she call you? And why did you get so upset when you saw it was her?"

_Urg, just talk, Edward! You're never going to get this out if you keep making her ask all these questions._

I took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "She doesn't call me that much. Maybe once every couple months or so, and she never has anything too important to say. It's usually just her complaining about her life or her current boyfriend or whatever."

Bella just waited, knowing that that didn't explain my behavior for the past week. I decided to start from the beginning.

"I met Tanya in middle school when we were about 12 after her family moved to Seattle. She was really shy, and I was always known for being the quiet boy in the back of the classroom, so I think we kind of bonded over our similarities. We became really good friends; best friends, actually. We did everything together, and in high school we began dating. We'd been inseparable since we first met and it just kind of took that natural turn into something more, you know?"

"Sure, that makes sense," Bella replied, nodding. Her gaze seemed to be a little far off, as if she were picturing something other than what I was saying.

I continued, "So yeah, we dated all throughout high school and after we graduated we went to U-Dub. We decided we didn't want to be apart if we didn't have to so we stayed close. We would have moved in together, too, but her parents didn't like that idea at all, and they were paying for her tuition, so we continued living at home. We were really serious, though, and I was…I mean, she and I were really…" I sighed in frustration. "I loved her. A lot."

I looked at Bella to try and see if I could tell what she was thinking, but her face gave nothing away. She had a look of simple curiosity but that was it. Her non-reaction led me to keep going.

"The first few months of college went great. Everything between us was going really well and we were enjoying the new, exciting experiences that come with college life, you know?"

I stopped myself, realizing that Bella hadn't had the chance to go to college. I wondered if she felt like she missed out, but when I glanced at her face she was smiling slightly and didn't look at all upset that I brought it up, so I continued with my story.

"After that, though, I started noticing changes in the way she would act. They sort of just kept building up until my once shy and laid-back best friend was now breaking out of her shell. She was becoming so much more social and making a lot of new friends, and I didn't know what to think of it, to be honest. I knew that this was a fairly typical thing to happen when starting college, but I thought I felt her pulling away and that terrified me, so…I proposed."

Her eyes widened and her grip on my hand tightened. She looked shocked by my statement. "You _proposed_ to her?"

"Yeah," I said grimly. "I know now that it was a stupid reason to propose, but I didn't know what else to do. I was scared that I was going to lose my best friend."

Her shock faded slightly and she nodded. "That's understandable, I guess."

"Anyway, she said yes, and just like that we were engaged after our first semester of college. And it did help to dispel my fears, I suppose. Tanya was so excited to be engaged that she would tell everyone new that we met. Things went back to normal for a while."

"I'm assuming it didn't last for long?" Bella asked knowingly.

I shook my head. "No, it didn't. Slowly things started shifting and it seemed like she just kept moving away while I sat in the same place and watched her. I tried to keep up but it became very obvious that I wasn't meant for that life. We remained engaged for almost three more years, but by then she wasn't the same person at all."

Bella bit her thumb nail on the hand that wasn't attached to mine and nodded. "What, um…if you don't mind me asking, what happened?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"I found out that she was cheating on me with one of her professors," I replied, monotone.

She gasped. "Oh my God! How did you find that out?"

"Well, it became pretty evident when I walked in on her having sex with one of her professors." I chuckled humorlessly.

She shook her head back and forth in disbelief. "That's…awful, Edward. I'm so sorry that happened to you."

I shrugged. "It wasn't a good day, that's for sure. But the worst part was that I wasn't really all that surprised, you know? Things had gotten so bad between us, but not in the typical way, where couples yell and fight and slam doors. Instead we would go days without even talking to each other and when we finally would, it would be because we knew it was odd that we hadn't and not because she actually wanted to talk to me. In the back of my mind, I knew she was cheating. I knew, and I didn't do anything about it."

Bella remained silent at that, either in thought or waiting for me to continue.

"I broke up with her and called off the engagement, and she couldn't have cared less. It _destroyed_ me. I realized that I had been holding out the hope that once college ended and we got married, that she'd calm down and be her old self again. But that wasn't what happened, so I had to deal with it, and my way of doing that was to close myself off even more than I already had for the past 3 years."

Bella rubbed my knuckle and sighed. "That must have been so hard, Edward, I can't even imagine. Not only did you lose your fiancé, but your best friend as well."

"Exactly!" I said loudly, making Bella jerk a bit. "Sorry. It's just…it's like she didn't even think it was a big deal, and that's what killed me. And all of my friends were her friends, so when we broke up I had no one to talk to, besides my parents." I shook my head in exasperation. "You know, I didn't even really want to stay in Seattle for college. I only did because she wanted to."

Bella was letting me vent, and I appreciated it. I never had the chance to just get it out, so once I started it was sort of like a dam breaking. The feelings that I felt 3 years ago were rushing back to me.

"So why does she still call you, then? I mean, if things ended like that, what do you two have to talk about?"

_Yes, what _do_ we have to talk about?_

I sighed and looked away, fearing what she would think of me after I told her the rest of the story.

"Edward?" she tried again.

I ran my hand through my hair again, nervous. "Like I said, we broke up at the end of the first semester of senior year, and after that we literally had no contact. Then one day, in the middle of my last semester, she came to our house, sobbing. She was a mess, claiming that she made a huge mistake and that she wasn't happy without me. She kept apologizing and asked if I would take her back."

Bella scoffed. "Yeah, right. Her professor was probably sick of playing fuck-buddies and she was looking for attention again. How stupid do you have to be to think someone would still want to be with you after doing something like she did?"

I cringed, and stared intently at my lap. After a few seconds without my response, Bella realized her mistake and let out a quiet 'oh'.

"It's not what it sounds like," I rushed out. "She was really upset and she sounded sincere. She was finally acting like the old Tanya I had fallen in love with." I shook my head and looked away. "I just wanted my best friend back. I was so miserable at that point; I wasn't thinking straight."

Bella looked at me guiltily. "I didn't mean anything by that, Edward. I didn't mean to be so judgmental. I'm sorry."

"No," I squeezed her hand, "you were right. I shouldn't have taken her back. She _was_ just looking for attention after that tool broke up with her. I found out after a few weeks when she dropped the act and started acting like college-Tanya again. When I confronted her about it, she turned it around on me and claimed that I was the reason we went wrong the first time. She said that I didn't have enough _passion_ for anything and that I was too dull for her to stay interested."

I chanced a look at Bella and noticed she was avoiding my eyes. I finally let go of her hand and turned slightly away from her.

_This is so humiliating. She already thinks I'm pathetic, so I get as well get the rest out while we're at it._

I sighed. "So that's why I moved to Forks after I graduated. I was running away. My parents had just moved here a few months prior and, knowing my situation, my dad alerted me to the open position at the elementary school. In Seattle, I had an awesome job offer from a private school lined up, a great apartment that I had just moved into, and I left it all because I couldn't take being there anymore. I think I blamed it for changing her or something. I don't know."

We both remained silent for a minute, thinking. Finally, Bella spoke up, but her voice tight.

"So if it didn't end civilly, then why does she call you every couple of months? And why does it upset you when she does?"

I figured that, at this point, there was no point in trying to make myself sound less pathetic, so I answered her honestly. "I've never really understood why she calls, because she never has too much to say. It's always about what's going on in her life at the time. Or, what's going _wrong_ in her life is more like it."

She still hadn't looked at me, instead staring straight ahead when she spoke. "Okay, but I still don't understand. Why do her calls _upset_ you so much?"

"I get upset because..." I groaned, rubbing my hands over my face. "I don't _know_ why, exactly. She…she makes me think of how weak and miserable I was when we broke up and how moronic it was for me to take her back. I see her name on my caller ID and it's like this huge reminder that I wasn't good enough or…exciting enough for her. I don't know. It's not like she comes out and says it when we talk, but she always indirectly implies it in one way or another." I glanced back at Bella, but she was still avoiding looking at me and had her fists balled up at her sides. I huffed and stood up. "I sound _so_ stupid right now! I should just leave."

Bella stood up quickly and stopped me from walking away by holding onto my arm. "Don't leave, Edward."

"I can't just sit here and watch while you decide that I'm an idiot and not worth your time. You won't even look at me!" I started muttering to myself, "I _knew_ that this would happen. I knew it!"

"Edward!" Bella said loudly, halting my mumbling. "That is _not_ what I'm doing. I'm just trying to...calm myself down a little bit."

_Calm herself down?_

"What? Why do you need to calm down?"

She stepped closer to me and I saw fire in her eyes that I hadn't noticed before because she wouldn't look at me. Her hand that was holding my arm tightened. She seemed…angry.

"Because…because right now I want nothing more than to find that bitch and claw her eyes out. I'm sorry, I know she was your friend, but I _hate_ her."

I'm sure my face looked very confused. "Why would _you_ hate her?"

"For making you think that way!" she practically yelled. "For deluding herself into thinking that what she did to you wasn't completely fucked up and then somehow making you feel bad about yourself and think that you drove her to do it! Who does that? Ugh, I can't even…" she trailed off, closing her eyes tightly.

Bella's reaction surprised me. I was expecting her to feel disappointment, or to regret making an effort with me since I'm obviously not worth it, or maybe even be angry with me. I was not expecting her to be angry with _Tanya_ because she hurt me.

Her protectiveness of me made me feel…nice; lighter, somehow. It reminded me of when she went Mama Bear on me the other night.

"I don't…" I trailed off, not knowing how to respond to that.

She opened her eyes back up, staring straight into mine intently. "Edward, there is nothing wrong with you. You are sweet, and kind, and caring. And you do have passion, I've seen it. I've seen it when you coach those kids baseball, and in the way you look when you ask me questions, like whatever I have to say will be the most interesting thing you've ever heard. You didn't need to change just because she did. People change all the time, but that's not an excuse to cheat."

I blinked. "Okay."

"And to call you every couple of months just to complain about her life and to make you feel like you aren't enough…_God_, I want to strangle her with a jump rope!"

I snorted at the image of Bella attempting to strangle Tanya with a jump rope. It wasn't an unpleasant vision. "A jump rope? Really?"

She finally cracked a half-smile, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. "Well, it's not like I have any chains or strong wire around here. I suppose I might need to stop at a store or something if I'm gonna do this right."

I chuckled at her adorableness and then got more serious. "Thank you, Bella. You didn't have to say all of that."

"Yes, I did, because it's true." She sighed. "And you better stop thinking otherwise, mister," she said, pointing at me with a playful grin.

Relieved that the tense part of this talk seemed to be over, I blew out a breath and smiled widely. "Duly noted."

"And I really, _really_ like that smile. Don't let her take it away again."

I looked down self-consciously but smiled even wider in response. "I'm sorry that it took me a while to tell you. I guess I thought you'd think differently of me once you knew."

"Never. Well, that's not exactly true. I now question your choice in friends a little. Although, you befriended me, so any previous bad friend choices are immediately overruled by my awesomeness," she replied, smirking.

It was strange how instantly and drastically this girl could improve my mood. "Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Well, I'm glad that your friendship is so influential on my track record." I smiled, and she giggled. I looked at the clock behind her on the wall that told me it was getting late. "Alright, well…I should go. I'm volunteering tomorrow, and I've kept you from your cleaning long enough. Oh, man, you work tomorrow, don't you?"

Her eyebrows scrunched up. "Yeah, so?"

"I'm sorry! You've barely had any time to clean with all of the whining I've been doing and you have to be up early tomorrow." _Great. Way to be considerate, Edward._

She waved me off, though. "You weren't whining, and I can finish it tomorrow night. It's not a big deal."

I sagged in relief. "Okay, well…I'll let you get some sleep, then."

"_Finally_. I do have to work tomorrow, you know," she replied, smirking.

I rolled my eyes._ She's so cute._

I wanted to hug her goodbye, but wasn't sure if that would be okay. Then I remembered her hugging me before she left to go with Emmett to the hospital, so at the last second I decided to go for it and stepped forward, enclosing her in my arms.

She responded quickly, wrapping her arms tightly around my middle and making my insides ignite. Her head was just below my chin and her haired smelled amazing. Then, she groaned.

_Uh-oh. Could she tell I smelled her hair?_

"Uh...what's wrong?" I asked, but didn't let go of her.

"I just remembered what I look like right now," she whined, her voice muffled by my shirt.

I pulled back and assessed what she was wearing: boxer shorts and a dark blue tank top. "What's wrong with what you look like?"

"Are you joking?" She pulled at her top a bit. "This tank top is at _least_ 3 years old and I'm fairly certain that I have powdered sugar in my hair from dessert tonight."

I had yet to look in her hair for the sugar, as I was staring at the tiny portion of her stomach that was revealed when she tugged on her top. Under normal circumstances, I know that it's considered impolite to blatantly stare like that, however…

"Bella, is that pink paint on your stomach?"

Her eyes snapped to her stomach and she tugged her top lower. "No."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, I know I phrased that as a question, but I clearly saw pink paint there."

She forced a laugh. "Edward, you're crazy. There's not paint of my stomach." She pretended to look at the clock. "Oh, wow, it is late. You'd better be going. Come on, I'll walk you out."

She turned around and began walking towards the front door. I shook my head, smiling, and followed her. "Oh hey, you do have powdered sugar in your hair."

She sighed and turned around now that we were at the door. "Awesome. Okay, well, it was nice seeing you. I'm gonna go clean myself now."

I laughed at her. "Okay. Goodbye, Bella"

She grinned cheekily. "_Goodbye_, Edward."

I walked around her and out the door. The entire drive home I couldn't stop thinking about the little bit of her stomach that I saw and that I had just told Bella my entire messed-up past and she didn't run away screaming.

…

"Dude, come _on_! We haven't watched a game at Tito's in forever. Come out with me tonight. The summer is dwindling away and we only have so much time left before we won't be able to spend Monday nights out drinking."

"Okay, fine. I'll come. But next time you want me to go to a bar with you, don't start of the request by propositioning me with sexual favors and calling me 'sweetie'. I don't dig that."

Jasper broke out into laughter again, finding his humor more hilarious than most other people do. I'll admit that he _does_ do an amazing impression of a gay cowboy, though.

"Sweet. I'll be the DD tonight since I have an early meeting with the school board, anyway."

"Alright, I'll see you in a half hour, then," I replied, hanging up the phone. Neither one of us is a big drinker, so it's never an issue taking turns.

I'd spent a good amount of the day volunteering at the hospital, so unwinding a bit with Jasper actually sounded great. Being able to talk to someone about what's been going on with Bella was an enticing sell, as well.

Jasper doesn't know the full details of my past with Tanya, but he knows enough to know it's not my favorite subject. The only reason he's aware of even that is because of one drunken night at the very bar we're going to tonight. Telling that story while intoxicated is a lot more tolerable.

Tito's is the only sports bar in Forks, so when we got there 40 minutes later, it was already pretty busy. We snagged a few seats at the bar and ordered some beers.

"So, how goes it, man? We haven't hung out in a bit." Our beers were set in front of us and Jasper took a drink of his.

"It's been alright. Um…Tanya called again last week."

He rolled his eyes and lifted his head to watch the TV behind me. "Oh yeah? What'd she have to say?" he asked, uninterested and annoyed.

I shrugged. "Nothing of importance. Bella was with me when she called, though."

That got his attention, and he focused on me again. "Uh-oh."

I nodded. "Yeah. Long story short, she knows the story now, and surprisingly, she's not running for the hills. Yet."

I shook his head, smiling. "Well, I could have told you that wouldn't happen, dude. The only person who comes out looking like shit in that story is Tanya."

I scoffed. "Agree to disagree, I guess."

Jasper sighed, knowing he wouldn't change my thoughts on the subject.

We spent the next hour and a half talking about random things here and there; work, sports, our families. Jasper switched to water after his second beer, but I was working through my sixth, so I was feeling a bit tipsy already.

The current topic at hand was one that seemed to be recurring when talking to Jasper: Alice.

"Listen, I'm not calling you a bad friend or anything, but you seriously suck."

I chuckled. "Thanks."

"No, I'm serious. How many opportunities have you had to ask Bella about her?"

"Less than you'd think. 90% of our conversations thus far have been way too serious for my liking. 'Thus' is a great word. Thussss." I let it roll off my tongue. _Words always sound increasingly weirder the more you say them. Thus._

He smacked his hands together. "Well then, let's change that. Call her right now and tell her I want Alice's number."

"Um, no, I'm not going to do that." He handed me my phone that I didn't notice him take and pouted overdramatically. I sighed, "Fine. But once I do it you can't ask me to do it anymore."

"I shouldn't need her number more than once, Edward," he replied condescendingly.

"That's right," I nodded, and then I called Bella's number. After a few rings, she answered. I smiled at her voice.

"Edward? Are you there?"

_Oh, right, I have to talk back._ "Hey." _That should work._

"Um, hey. Uh…is something wrong? Why are you calling so late?" Her voice sounded a little hoarse, like she'd been sleeping.

_Oh, shit! What time is it? 11:30! She _was_ sleeping, you idiot!_

"I'm sorry, Jasper made me! I didn't mean to wake you up. Man, I _do_ suck." I ran my hand through my hair nervously.

"Jasper? Are you at Jasper's or something?"

"Tito's, Bella. It's called Tito's."

I heard her giggle through the phone. "Okay, got it. Are you having fun? You sound like you are."

"Oh, you know." I shrugged, not realizing that she wouldn't see it. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I don't know how late it is. I mean I didn't. Know. I do now. It's 11:30."

"That's right, it is." She giggled again.

_I really like when she does that._

"Okay, well I'll talk to you later. Tell Brady and Lola I said 'hi'." I thought about what I said and got worried. "But don't wake them up! You can just tell them in the morning if you want."

"Okay, I'll tell them in the morning. Goodnight, Edward. Be safe."

"I will. Jasper's driving. Night." I hung up and smiled at the phone_._

When I put it back in my pocket and looked up at Jasper, he had a scowl on his face. "Dude."

"What? I called her."

"You didn't get Alice's number!" he yelled.

_Oh, yeah. I didn't, did I? _

"It didn't come up," I said.

"But that's why you called her in the first place! _You_ were supposed to bring it up."

"That's what she said." I waggled my fingers at him and made the "ba-dum-bum" noise.

"That's what…" he stopped himself, then started laughing. "Okay, let's go home. You're getting stupid. That barely made any sense."

…

When I woke up the following morning, I had a slight headache and a more-than-slight feeling of regret for calling Bella last night.

Why_ would I do that? I woke her up, talked to her for about 30 seconds, and then I'm pretty sure I might have hung up on her._

I felt like I needed to apologize, so instead of calling her again, I decided I would head over there with coffee and doughnuts and say sorry in person since she has Tuesdays off of work. It was only nine in the morning, but I assumed they would be up.

_If not and I wake her up again, I'll probably be put on her shit list for good._

When I stopped at the gas station, I also bought three SpongeBob key chains that were by the register for Bella and the kids. I remember Lola mentioning him at one point so I figured they would like it.

With our coffees precariously balanced on top of the doughnut box and the key chains hanging from my fingers, I used my foot to knock on the door.

After a few seconds, Bella answered with wet, wavy hair and a surprised look on her face.

"Edward, hey. Come on in." She moved aside and I walked past her and into the kitchen, where the twins were sitting at the table rubbing their eyes.

I walked up to the table. "Hey, anteaters. What are you doing?"

They turned toward me and smiled.

"Hi," said Brady.

"We gonna eat," Lola answered.

I smiled. "Perfect, because I brought doughnuts. Who like sprinkles?"

After they enthusiastically affirmed that they both do, Bella came up beside me, lightly hip-checking me.

"Sweet, now I don't have to make them breakfast," she said, smiling.

I smiled back, giving her one of the coffees and then I let her and the kids pick out which doughnut they each wanted. They all chose sprinkles, unsurprisingly.

"Thanks, Edward. This was very thoughtful of you. Can you guys say 'thank you' to Edward?"

"Sanks, dude," replied Brady. Lola repeated what he said and they both giggled.

"You're very welcome." I sat down at the table with Bella, and then remembered that I still had the key chains fisted in my left hand. "Oh, and I got you guys something else, too."

I opened my hand and held it up to show them the dangling SpongeBobs. Their smiles grew and I handed them each one. After their 'thank you's and a few seconds of admiring the silly toys, they resumed eating their doughnuts again.

I turned to Bella, who was smiling at the exchange. "And for you." I offered her my hand with the last remaining SpongeBob hanging from it.

"I get one, too?" she asked excitedly. She slid it off my finger and held it in her hand.

"Absolutely," I nodded. "Consider all of this my apology for waking you up and talking nonsense last night."

Her face lit up at the mention and she smiled. "So you remember that, huh?"

"Yes, I remember, missy. I wasn't _that_ far gone," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Could've fooled me," she teased, tapping the table with her finger. I flicked her finger and she swatted my chest, both of us smiling during the faux-spat.

"Well, whatever I was, I'm sorry for calling so late. Jasper and I went and had a few drinks last night and I might have had one too many. I swear I'm not a frequent drunk dialer, though." _I am, however, a complete lightweight._

"That's a bummer. I always find talking to drunk people quite entertaining. Especially over the phone when you have to work through all of the slurring and have hardly any context clues." She grinned and took a sip of her coffee. "Seriously, though, don't worry about it. I fell back to sleep right away."

"Okay, good."

We continued to eat our doughnuts and drink our coffees while we listened to the twins tell us stories about their dreams. Brady had one where he was swimming in a lake with Scooby Doo, and that reminded me that I told my mom that I'd invite Bella and the kids to their barbeque/pool party this Saturday.

I felt pretty good about where we were at right now, but I was still nervous to ask her for some reason. It seemed like a big step – asking her and the kids to essentially meet my parents – but it wasn't like we were dating or anything.

I decided to just ask. _The worst she could do is say 'no'._

"Hey, um…Bella?"

She shoved the the last bite of her doughnut in her mouth before answering, which I thought was endearing. _Who eats _before_ they're planning to talk?_

"Hmm?" she asked with her mouth full.

"What are you guys doing this Saturday? Are you busy?" My fingers were fidgeting but I forced myself to keep eye contact.

She eyed me curiously. "I don't think so. Why?"

"Well, my parents have this annual barbeque slash pool party in the middle of August, and it's this weekend and my mom wanted me to ask if you guys would like to come." She continued to eye me strangely, so I got nervous and started rambling. "It's not a big deal. It's just this thing that they have for the neighbors and friends and family and Jasper always comes so you won't be my only friend who's there and you don't even have to stay very long if you don't want, or even come, but I thought I'd ask in case you wanted to. Come, that is. But you don't have to."

_Every impulse I'm experiencing right now is telling me to bang my head against the table._

But thankfully, for some reason I was not privy to, Bella agreed, nodding shyly. "Sure. Yeah, we'll come. As long as you're sure you want us to. _Come, that is_." She smirked and I knew she was teasing me but I didn't care.

_She said they'd come!_

"Of course I'm sure!" I smiled back. "Okay, so it's on Saturday and it starts at 2pm, so is it okay if I pick you guys up around 1, then?"

"We'll be waiting for you."

I stood up and wiped my sweaty hands on my pants. "Great. I should get going, then." I waved to the twins, whose faces were decorated with multicolored sprinkles. "Bye, guys."

They waved back and Bella followed me to her front door. I opened it and turned around, apparently too quickly because Bella was standing right behind me and jumped at my sudden movement.

"Whoa!" she said, stepping back a bit.

"Sorry," I smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine," she laughed. "We'll see you Saturday, Edward."

"Yes, you will. Oh, and remember, it's a pool party as well, so bring your suits if you want to swim."

"Okay, we will."

In that moment, with her smiling up at me, I realized that I wanted to do something that I hadn't done before. Since everything had gotten so messed up in the past week with us, the relationship that we were forming hadn't progressed much, and I felt compelled to change that.

So, with a sudden burst of confidence, I leaned forward, lightly gripping her upper arms, and softly pecked her cheek. In an even more surprising move on my part, I didn't move back right away, instead lingering for an extra second. I could feel her cheek heat up under my lips, and I had to refrain from smiling.

When I pulled back, I smiled and quickly turned around. I heard the door close behind me and I whistled all the way to my car.

My whistling, however, stopped abruptly when I realized that I now had to tell my mother that Bella and the twins were coming to the barbeque.

_Great._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Aw. I know I wrote it, but that was kind of cute of him at the end, huh?

So. What say you, friends? It's not as bad as you were thinking, is it? Were you let down by his story? Did you think it was going to be much more interesting or do you like that it wasn't completely soap-opera-ish? I have a feeling that a lot of you were expecting something more...dramatic, but this has always been my plan.

Also, classes start back up on Thursday (boooooooo), so we'll see if that affects my posting schedule. I'm hoping it doesn't.

Anyway, sound off in a review!


	10. Grocery Store Runins and BBQ Fun

**A/N**: Sorry for the delay. Now, who's ready for some BBQ good times? I'm sure you're happy that I didn't put a filler chapter in between the invite and the actual event, so without further ado and unnecessary chatter from me, continue on!

Thanks to **rosellebec **for her prereading and suggestions that come along with it!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 – Grocery Store Run-ins and BBQ Fun<strong>

**Bella**

"Bugs, enough blush already. You're making me look like a clown!"

Brady and Lola giggled at the comparison, but continued swiping my forehead and eyebrows with it anyway. I was letting them do my hair and make-up.

_In other words, letting them make me look like a drugged-out hooker._

I realized that we were running a little early (gasp!) and had some time to spare before Edward would get here to pick us up for the barbeque, so I thought it would be fun to let the kids get me ready and then just fix it myself before we left.

Fun, however, has been 3 eye-pokes, 40+ hairs ripped from my head, and lip-gloss "accidentally" stuck up my nose. _So, fun for them, torture for me._

"Ma, I sink mo glittuh," said Lola, reaching for the glitter. Again.

"No, no! No more glitter. _I_ think it's time you trouble twins head to the playroom while I finish up in here." I waved my hands toward the door. "Shoo, flies."

"Bugs, Ma," Brady corrected with his hands on his hips.

I playfully rolled my eyes. "Oh, right. Then shoo, _bugs_."

I lifted them off of the chair that they were using to stand on and ushered them out of the downstairs bathroom. Edward was going to be here in 20 minutes and I needed some time to wash this crap off of my face and throw my hair in a ponytail.

I figured since we'd be swimming that I'd keep it casual, so we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts with our suits underneath. Except for Brady, who was using his swim trunks _as_ shorts. They were stoked that I was letting them wear their new Dora and Diego suits instead of underwear.

I, however, was a bit nervous about the whole ordeal, especially after Edward's impromptu kiss on the cheek before he left on Tuesday. We hadn't seen each other since, and had only talked on the phone once to hammer out today's details, so our lack of interaction only added to my nerves.

When I was done getting ready, the twins and I walked outside and I began unloading their car seats from my car just as Edward pulled into our driveway. I smiled and waved as he pulled up next to us.

"Hello, Swan family," he sing-songed, climbing out of his car. "How is everyone today?"

He, too, was wearing swim trunks as shorts and had sunglasses perched on the top of his head. He seemed very cheery and laid-back today.

_Casual definitely works for him._

Lola sauntered up to his legs and he picked her up, smiling.

"Hi, Ehwood. Wes not wearin' undies," she explained, giggling.

I facepalmed. _My child, ladies and gentlemen._

Edward took it in stride, chuckling. "Why are you not wearing undies?" She lifted up her shirt to show him her bathing suit and he nodded in understanding. "Ah, got it. Well, that makes sense, then."

Brady and I joined them by his car and he put Lola down to take their car seats from me.

"Thanks. You look very…pool party appropriate. But, and I'm just throwing this out there, boys generally take their shirt off to swim. So, you know…feel free to do so at any time." My jaw snapped shut from the shock of my own words.

_Hey, Bella. It's me, your brain. WHAT are you saying right now?_

His eyes widened slightly, but they quickly returned to normal. "I'm aware of that fact, actually. I appreciate the reminder, though. By the way, when Lola referenced 'we' a second ago, were you included in that? I'm just asking out of simple curiosity, of course."

_Oh my God, we're seriously flirting right now? Well, this is new._

Spurred on by him playing along, I continued, "Technically, I guess I am, although I've never really understood why people differentiate so much between underwear and bathing suits. They show virtually the same amount of skin."

He looked up and tapped his chin as if deep in thought. "Hmm…that's interesting. I have _never_ given that an ounce of thought before. Ever." He tilted his head back down and smirked. "Are you guys ready to go?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yup. Let's head out."

...

Before we went to his parents' house, we had to stop at the grocery store to get ice and drinks for the party, which worked out nicely for me because I really wanted some watermelon Sour Patch Kids. I was getting more and more nervous, and I always crave candy when I'm nervous. _What? It's a thing!_

When we got to the store, Edward headed toward the pop aisle while the kids and I picked out some candy. We ended up with an assorted variety because I didn't know what Edward would want and I figured what he didn't, I would, so it was basically a win-win in my book.

Once we had at least one type of candy from each candy food group, the twins and I started making our way to checkout. On the way, Brady latched onto my leg suddenly, almost tripping me in the process.

"Sanks for candy, Mama."

"You're very welcome, baby." I rubbed the top of his head while Lola copied his action and attached herself to my other leg, nuzzling it with her face. It was these simple, random moments that always made me wonder how I could possibly ever be happier than this.

"Um…Bella?" questioned a deep voice, breaking us out of our little love fest. It was not the voice that I was expecting to hear, but one that I hadn't heard in almost 3 years; one that's changed slightly since the last time that I heard it.

I turned around slowly. I wasn't trying to be dramatic or anything, but the twins were still attached to my legs and weren't letting go so I was forced to sort of pivot-shuffle.

"Jake. Um…hey."

His eyes hadn't made contact with mine yet. He was staring blatantly at Brady and Lola, and while I knew it was out of simple curiosity, I still had the urge to shove them behind me and shield them. Rationally, I knew that they didn't need shielding from Jake, as he is one of the most harmless people I've ever met, but the urge was still there.

"So…this is them, huh?" His mouth showed a hint of a smile as he asked.

I narrowed my eyes a bit at his ridiculous question._ No, they're just some kids I found in the fruit section._

"These are my children, yes." I tried to keep the irritation from his question out of my voice, but I think I failed. I had no reason to be irritated with him, logically, but for some reason I was. _I blame it on my current need for sugar._

He laughed self-consciously. "Right. Sorry, that was a stupid question."

My posture relaxed a little and I felt my irritation dissipating. I waved him off. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

He nodded. "So, how have you been? It's been a long time." His eyes moved from me, to the kids, and then back again. "You seem to be doing well," he said, a genuine smile lighting up his face. That's Jake, though. Everything about him is genuine.

"I am, yeah. They keep me busy." I paused. "Good busy, though."

He hesitated a bit then asked, "What are their names?"

"Oh, right." I chuckled nervously. "This is Lola, and this is Brady. Can you guys say 'hi' to Jake?"

Once they realized that I was okay with him, they loosened their grip from my legs stepped forward a bit.

"Hi," said Lola. "I like yo big musohs."

Jake chuckled and bent down a bit. "Thanks. I think."

"Me, too," Brady agreed. "Ma gives us musohs suntimes."

Jake cocked his head a bit, probably imagining what that meant, and then shook it and smiled. "That sounds like her." His voice was nostalgic and maybe even a little sad, but he covered it up with his perpetual huge grin. "Anyway, it's nice meeting you both." He shook their little hands, causing them to giggle. "And Bells," he stood up, "it was nice seeing you again. I'm glad everything has worked out for you. Honestly, I am."

I smiled. "I know you are. And it was nice seeing you, too."

Something loud crashed behind us, so we all turned to see what it was. That was when I saw Edward, haphazardly walking toward us, attempting to carry four 24 packs of pop.

He cursed quietly when he realized that he'd knocked into one of the shelves, and set down everything he was holding in front of him to clean it up.

When he stood up, his eyes locked with mine and he smiled sheepishly. "I should've gotten a cart."

I giggled, and Jake walked over to him. "Here, man. I'll give you a hand."

Edward sighed. "Thanks."

They each picked up a couple 24 packs and walked over to checkout, setting them on the conveyer belt.

"There you go," said Jake. His eyes darted subtly between me and Edward before he looked away.

Edward held out his hand. "Thanks again. I'm Edward, by the way."

Jake shook it and replied, "Jacob."

I grabbed a separator and set down all of my candy, but Edward removed it wordlessly and scooted the candy toward the pop he was buying. I scowled at him but he just smiled and shrugged. _Who am I to argue with that face?_

After watching our exchange, Jake stepped back and awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets. "Okay, well…bye, Bells."

Edward's eyes widened in surprised that he knew my name. He must have thought that Jake was some stranger who offered to help. I guess he hadn't witnessed any of our talk before he crashed into the shelf.

I waved to him. "Bye, Jake."

Once he left, Edward smiled at me a bit strangely and then he bought our stuff and we headed to the car.

I was holding the twins' hands and Edward pushed the cart, but when we got there, he picked up Lola and began strapping her into her car seat while I did Brady. It didn't escape my notice that he did it without me asking him to. It seemed natural for him.

Once we were back in the car and moving, we didn't talk too much since his parents only lived a few minutes away, but there was enough time for Edward to ask me about Jake.

"So…you knew him?" he asked, his voice attempting to be causal and failing miserably.

"Oh…yeah, I do. Or I did, I guess. I haven't seen him in a long time." His eyes were filled with questions, but I knew we wouldn't have enough time to discuss the whole story before we arrived at his parents. "I'll tell you about it later," I said, and smiled so he would know it wasn't a big deal.

That seemed to satisfy him. He smiled back and turned his attention to the road while I delegated the candy to everyone.

Within 5 minutes we were pulling into the driveway of his parents' beautiful 3-story house. It wasn't what I expected, at all. It was still huge, of course, but it had a very laid-back, homey feel that it exuded as well. I don't know why I expected it to be some huge, sterile mansion, but the fact that it wasn't helped to put me at ease a little.

_You're not dating, Bella. Quit freaking out over this. You're here to have fun and hang out with Edward. That's it._

While I was getting the twins out of the car, Edward grabbed our bags and then led us through the front door of his parents' house.

"We're early, so I'm not sure if they're already out back or not. I just have to take care of the drinks and then we can eat."

I was about to respond, but before I could, a woman, presumably Edward's mother, called from further inside the house.

"Edward? Is that you, dear?"

He smiled at her voice. "Yeah, Mom. It's us."

We rounded the corner of their foyer and walked into the kitchen, where Edward's parents were located. His father was at one of the counters organizing different meats that I assumed would be cooked later and his mother was sitting at the table, bouncing slightly. They both smiled widely at us when we entered.

I stood, slightly frozen, holding the kids' hands in the entryway while Edward moved forward to set down the bags. Once he had, he came back to us, grabbing Brady's hand and pulling us all toward his parents, train-style.

"Mom, Dad, this is my friend Bella, and these are her children, Lola and Brady." He picked up Brady, who was tugging on his t-shirt, and I followed suit with Lola so that I had something to do with my now unoccupied hand.

His dad waved and nodded, and his mother jumped up and rushed over to us.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you three! I'm Esme. We're so happy that you were able to make it!"

"It's nice to meet you, too. Thank you so much for inviting us," I replied, glancing down at the floor shyly.

"Oh course, dear. The more the merrier." Her smile was so warm and welcoming, yet so wide it rivaled the Cheshire cat's.

"Bella," his father spoke for the first time, "do you eat meat? Because if you don't I could make an alternative. Or if there's something the kids would prefer, just let me know. It wouldn't be any trouble."

"Oh, no, I eat meat. And my kids aren't picky at all, so we should be fine with whatever you're already making. Seriously, they'd eat food off the floor if I let them."

Edward chuckled. "I can vouch for that."

_Please don't bring up the ant-covered hotdogs. Please don't bring up the ant-covered hotdogs._

"Thank you, though, for offering," I said, happy that Edward stopped there. His father smiled and went back to what he was doing. He didn't seem to be much of a talker, but I could tell he was a kind man.

"Can I walk you all out to the backyard?" Esme spoke again. "There are already a few people milling around."

I nodded, so she began leading us through the house. Edward walked close beside me while we both followed Esme out the back door and into their humongous yard. It was very impressive, and apparently I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Wow! Dat'sa big pool, Ma!" exclaimed Lola, squirming around in my arms.

Esme smiled at her. "It is pretty big, huh? Did you bring your bathing suit to go swimming?"

_Please don't bring up the no undies. Please don't bring up the no undies._

"Yeah! Wanna see?"

Thankfully, she only lifted up her shirt slightly to show off her bathing suit. Brady modeled his as well, and then told Edward to do the same. He complied, spinning in a circle and shaking his butt like a dork, causing us all to laugh. _I think I was the only one who drooled slightly, though._

"Well, I love all of your suits. You know what? I think I have some pool toys that we could bring out. If it's okay with your mom, we could go get them." She looked to me for permission.

"Sure, that's fine. Do you guys want to go with Mrs. Esme to get pool toys?"

They both affirmed that they did, so Edward and I set them down so that they could hold Esme's hands. They began walking away, but Edward stopped them.

"Hey, Mom," he mock-whispered, "just watch out for your fingers." He wiggled his own while saying this.

"What? Why?" she asked, confused. I had no idea what he was talking about, either.

"Well, you know…" He gestured to the twins and then snapped his teeth together, as if saying that they bite. Esme's eyes went wide for a second, but then she nodded in understanding.

I gasped and elbowed Edward in his side as he burst out laughing. "Don't listen to him, Esme. They don't bite. I promise."

Esme shook her head at her son's antics, smiling a little. "Edward, quit embarrassing Bella."

He was still giggling like a little girl, but managed to squeeze in a half-assed apology at her request. Once they walked away, I turned toward him, scowling and trying not to smile. _He's cute when he giggles._

"_You_ are an asshole. She probably still thinks they bite."

He calmed down a little. "No, she doesn't. She knows I was just joking. So," he waved his arm in front of him, "what do you think?"

"It's awesome. I'd love to have a yard this big. I think I'd camp out in it every night. And your parents seem great. That was nice of your mom to offer to take them with her."

"Trust me, Bella, it was her pleasure. She loves children. After the whole Tanya thing, she told me that she was very sorry to hear about our break-up, but that it better not stop me from giving her grandchildren at some point. And no, I'm not kidding."

I laughed, imagining his mother actually saying that to him.

"Come on," he said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me, "my dad's at the grill now. Let's go get some grub before more people get here."

I don't know what caused it, but Edward was definitely being more forward with me today. Maybe it was because he was in familiar territory, or maybe it was because his past was finally out in the open and no longer weighing him down, but either way, I liked the changes.

After we got enough food for ourselves and the twins, he led me over to a table just as Esme was walking back with the kids, laughing at something Brady was saying.

When they spotted us, they smiled and took off running until they got to our table. I hoisted them up, kissed their cheeks, and sat them down in between us on the bench.

"Ma, Smesme gots a football for da pool!"

Edward, Esme, and I chuckled at the way he smashed together 'Mrs.' and 'Esme' and turned it into 'Smesme'.

"Uh-oh. I better watch my back then, huh?"

Edward gave me a puzzled look. "Why do you say that?"

"Because, the last time we were playing with a football, Brady here chucked it at my face and gave me a bloody nose." I poked his side to let him know that I was messing around. I didn't want him to feel bad about it again.

"Ouch." Edward winced.

"Yeah, it wasn't fun. Not only was Brady crying because he thought he 'broke my face'," I used air-quotes, "but the sight of my own blood makes me really dizzy, so I was sitting in the grass, bleeding everywhere with my head tucked between my knees. The best part was Lola calmly picking up her fake phone and having a pretend conversation with my dad, telling him that I needed to go to the doctor's." I lightly tugged on her pigtail and she giggled.

"Ah," Esme nodded, "well now I know why he asked. Before we got to you guys, Brady asked me if I had Band-Aids just in case. I didn't understand why he wanted to know, but now it makes sense."

I quirked my eyebrow at him. "_Or_ we could just leave out the flinging footballs at peoples' faces part, Brady-bug."

"Good idea," Edward agreed, nudging Brady's side before standing up. "Mom, sit down. I'll go get you some food."

"Thank you, darling. I'd like a cheeseburger, please."

Once Edward got up and left, Esme sat down across from the me and the kids, setting her hands on the table and smiling brightly.

"So, are you from Forks, Bella?"

I nodded while I doled out food for Brady and Lola. "Yeah, I am. My parents moved here before my brother and I were born. My dad was offered the job of Police Chief, so they relocated here from farther east in the state."

"That must be nice being so familiar with everyone. We moved here a few years back and we've absolutely fallen in love with the town and its people."

"It's a great place to live," I concurred. "I considered moving a few cities out before the twins were born just for a change of scenery, but then I realized that I didn't want to part with it," I said, laughing. "Plus, my dad and brother live here, so there ended up being far more cons than pros with that idea."

"I know what you mean. Carlisle and I were thrilled when Edward decided to move here."

"I bet. He's a nice person to have around." I smiled shyly.

"That he is," she said, smiling back knowingly. "So, you said your brother and father live here. Does Brady and Lola's father live outside of Forks, then?"

The question itself was a little invasive, but the way in which Esme delivered it was so completely sincere and non-threatening that it didn't feel like it. Obviously Edward hadn't told his parents about the adoption.

Also, most new people I meet don't automatically assume that I'm not with the father, but I guess my being here with Edward pretty much confirms that I'm not.

"Oh, well…actually, they're adopted. So it's just me." I smiled to let her know that I was okay answering the question. I didn't want her to feel like she just forced an uncomfortable topic out of me.

Her eye's widened a bit but she recovered quickly. Then, her smile that hadn't seemed to disappear since we arrived grew impossibly bigger.

She reached across the table and patted my hand, sighing happily. "What a wonderful gift you've given them." I tipped my head down, embarrassed by the compliment. "You know, before we had Edward, there was a point when Carlisle and I were seriously considering adoption. We thought that we were unable to conceive. Edward was an unexpected, truly special surprise to us."

_I feel the same way about him._

That thought came out of nowhere and I was relieved that I managed to not say it out loud. I turned my head to see what he was doing and found him by the grill, listening to something his father was talking about. When he caught me staring he grinned and winked, causing my own face to lift into an uncontrollable smile.

When I turned back around, I realized that Esme was watching our whole exchange. After a moment, she continued. "Anyway, we still had a taste of what the process involves. It can be very grueling and time-consuming, but the outcome is of course worth it," she said, smiling.

"Honestly, you probably know more about the process than I do. I mean, I was only 19 at the time so obviously adoption wasn't something that I was researching or anything. Our situation was sort of just…" I trailed off, searching for the right word, "…presented to me, I guess. It wasn't your typical circumstances."

I could sense her curiosity growing, but before I could expand on that statement, Edward appeared at our table again, setting down his mother's plate in front of her.

"Sorry it took so long, Mom. Dad and a few of his friends were talking to me about the hospital, and then Jasper arrived so I had to say hi to him really quickly."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. It gave me some time to talk with Bella."

He eyed her curiously. "Okay, then." He smiled at me before addressing the twins. "Alright, anteaters, who's ready to go swimming?"

Brady and Lola hastily shoved the last few bites of their hotdogs in their mouth before excitedly answering simultaneously with, "Me!"

Edward looked to me. "Is that alright?"

_Is it alright for that shirt to finally come off? Yes, please._

"Yup, let's go," I responded with instead, standing up.

He grabbed them both around their waists and lifted them off of the bench before jogging with them over to the pool area. "Come on, Bella!" he called over his shoulder. _Silly boy._

I giggled as Esme looked on. Then she turned to me with a confused expression. "Did he just call them 'anteaters'?"

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Yes, and unfortunately it's a nickname that they've very much earned. Feel free to ask him the story behind it, but you can pretty much guess what it involved." She scrunched up her face and I nodded. "Yup. Also…I mean, if you're curious, you can ask him more details about the adoption since we didn't really get to finish talking. He knows the whole story."

I hoped that I wasn't being presumptuous in assuming that she'd want to know more. I just didn't want her to feel like I intentionally left out parts.

"Okay. I think I might, if it's okay with you."

"Yeah, it's okay." I smiled. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you."

"You, too, dear. I look forward to getting to know you all more."

I nodded and waved before heading over to where Edward and the kids were. He was in the process of taking off Brady's shirt for him when I arrived.

"Oh, you know what? I think we left the bag with sunblock and their life jackets in the kitchen."

Edward folded Brady's shirt and set it on the chair that already held Lola's over-clothes. "No problem, I'll go get it. Or, wait, did you need to go inside to change or are you wearing your suit under your clothes, too?"

"It's under my clothes."

It took him a second longer than necessary before he responded. "Okay, I'll be right back."

While he was gone I changed out of my clothes and then Brady and Lola showed me where they put the pool toys with Esme. While we were picking out which ones we wanted to play with first, I heard a throat clear behind me, then Edward's voice.

"Um...here you go."

I turned around to see Edward standing there, awkwardly not making eye-contact and holding out the sunblock and lifejackets towards me.

I smiled a little to myself. "Thanks."

I deliberately avoided looking at Edward while I lathered up the kids because I didn't want him to see the inevitable staring I would've been doing when he took his shirt off.

Once the sunblock and lifejackets were on, I finally looked up and saw Edward staring at _me_ with an evil glint in his eye; a glint that almost, _almost_ distracted me from the absolutely intoxicating visual of his shirtless upper-half. _Now I know why they're called "happy" trails. Holy hell. _

After my obvious ogling, which he politely didn't comment on, he began stalking toward me slowly.

My eyes darted to the pool and then back again, hoping that he wasn't about to do what I thought he was about to do. "Edward…"

"Yes, Bella?" he asked, continuing his approach.

It was now obvious what he was planning on doing. "Edward, don't you dare." When he didn't seem deterred, I tried another approach. "You…if you do this the kids will be up here all by themselves."

He stopped for a second, thinking. Then his face lit up when he noticed his dad was walking past us with his plate of food. He stopped him. "Hey, can you stay by the kids for minute, Dad?"

"Sure," his dad replied easily, smiling and sitting down in the chair by us.

He offered them each a chip from his plate, which they took, and then shoved in their mouths before sitting down next to him on the lawn chair. Unlike Esme, Carlisle's approach to interacting with the kids was much more subtle, but you could tell he was enjoying their presence.

Edward grinned in triumph. "Now, any more excuses, missy?"

"I…" I paused, trying to think. Then I intentionally looked behind him and said, "Oh, hey, Jasper."

Edward turned his head, and before he could realize that Jasper wasn't there I took off running in the opposite direction. He quickly realized his mistake and I heard him chuckle from behind me before he began his chase.

I ran around the row of lawn chairs and to the other side of the pool, which, unfortunately, had a gazillion picnic tables, and I got caught trying to navigate through them, thus slowing my pace and allowing Edward to catch up to me.

Once he did, he grabbed me around my waist, causing me to squeal like a 7-year-old girl, and lifted me off of my feet. Then he pulled me against him so that my back was flush against his chest and kept me there by wrapping his left arm around my stomach and holding my waist with his right hand.

Once we were in this position I pretty much gave up on fighting, because 1.) he's much stronger than I am and it'd be a wasted effort and 2.) I really liked having his arm wrapped around me. _Sue me._

With both of us out of breath from the chase and giggling, he carried me over to the edge of the pool and then leaned down, whispering in my ear, "Hold your breath, Swan," before proceeding to jump in with us still attached.

He let go of me once we hit the water, and when we resurfaced we were met with the attention of almost the entire party, laughing and applauding at the show Edward and my unwilling self had inadvertently just put on for them. Brady and Lola were clapping and laughing the loudest, the little traitors.

I turned to see Edward, grinning wildly and shaking out his hair. I moved over to him and splashed his face, which he didn't even try to stop.

"You little fucker," I whisper-yelled, playfully kicking him under the water. He just shrugged and smiled before going back under.

I made my way over to the edge where the twins were waiting for me.

"What are you two laughing at? Huh?"

"You an Ehwood are funny, Ma," explained Brady.

"Yeah, Ma. You screamed loud!" added Lola.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, bugs. Just wait until he does the same to you! Then we'll see who's laughing," I joked. They didn't seem fazed by the threat. I sighed. "Alright, are you guys ready to come in?"

"Me first!" yelled Lola. "Can I jump?"

"Absolutely, Lola-bug. Do you wanna go under or do you want Mama to catch you?"

She pondered it for a moment before deciding that she wanted to go under, so I made sure she was close enough to the edge before I stepped back and let her do her thing. Brady followed after her similarly and then I grabbed their hands and pulled them to the middle of the pool.

Edward came up to us and tickled their feet, and then we spent the next hour playing silly games that were entertaining to both us and the twins.

We took turns racing across the pool with them on our backs, threw them back and forth until our arms got tired, twirled them around on the blow-up rafts, and spun in circles while making boat noises. At one point, Esme got in and she and the twins watched as Edward and I goofed around a bit. He would go under and hold his hands up, and I would use them to steady myself on his shoulders, and then jump off of him as he shot up from the water. We did that about 5 times, and each time I went farther than the last.

When our hands started resembling an 80-year-old's, we decided pool-time was over and got out to dry off.

I grabbed two of our towels and wrapped the twins in them, and then set them on a lawn chair to chill-out with a juice box. When I turned around to get myself a towel, one was unexpectedly thrown at my face.

Of course, when I pulled it off, Edward was standing there grinning at me.

"_You_ are not being very nice to me today, mister."

He walked over to me. "What do you mean? I gave you a towel. That's a nice gesture."

"Uh-huh," I said, rolling my eyes.

We continued drying of next to each other. Edward put his towel over his head in an attempt to dry his hair while I took out my ponytail and ran my fingers through mine, trying to make it look stylishly messy.

Once we were all thoroughly dry and back in our over-clothes, we sat in the grass and started to throw around a ball.

"Hey, guys." Jasper came up and sat beside me. He must be pretty familiar with someone here besides Edward because this was the first time I'd seen him since we'd arrived and we've been monopolizing Edward the whole time.

"Hey, J. Where've you been?" asked Edward.

"Oh, you know, just mingling. I actually have to cut out soon to get my weekend errands done, but before I do, I have an extremely important question to ask."

Edward's face grew serious and he nodded. "Sure. What's up?"

Jasper smirked. "Not a question for _you_, my man," he replied, turning his attention to me. "Miss Bella, could you do me the incredible kindness of giving me your friend Alice's number? This idiot," he jerked his thumb toward Edward, "was supposed to get it for me ages ago, but apparently he doesn't care enough to help a brother out."

I laughed and decided to tease Edward a little. "Well, that's not very nice, Edward. Why would you be so cruel to your friend?"

"I'm not!" He threw his hands up and sighed. "I just kept forgetting to get it, that's all."

"_Sure_," Jasper stepped in, "whatever your excuse is, dude. So, is that a 'yes', Bella?"

"Yes, I will give you her number, since Edward's such a terrible friend."

Edward chuckled and threw some grass at me while I recited Alice's number for Jasper. Once he had it programmed into his phone, he stood up.

"Thank you, ma'am. Alright, I'll catch you guys on the flip side. I've got a date to confirm for tonight!"

I giggled at his enthusiasm, and then stood up as well, dusting the grass off of me from Edward's silliness.

"Ma, I'm sleepy," said Lola, yawning.

Brady yawned as well, laying his head back onto the ground. "Me, too."

Edward looked up at me with raised eyebrows. "You ready to take off?"

"Looks like it. Don't fall asleep in the grass, bugs. We still have to say goodbye to everyone."

Edward and I each picked up a kid and headed over to Carlisle and Esme, who were sitting at one of the picnic tables talking to friends. When Esme saw us approaching with two sleepy-looking kids, she stood up, tugging Carlisle with her.

"Are you guys leaving?"

"Yeah," Edward confirmed, "the twins are getting tired."

"Of course they are. I'm surprised you two are still standing right now. I think you guys played more than them," she said, smiling.

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed by her statement. "Yeah, we had fun. Thank you again for inviting us. It was really nice meeting you both."

"Oh, it was our pleasure, dear. I hope we start seeing more of you guys."

"I agree," added Carlisle, smiling, "don't be strangers."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just smiled and nodded. Edward stayed quiet throughout the exchange.

After the twins said their goodbyes as well, we packed up our stuff and headed back home. The twins both fell asleep before we even left the driveway. _Great, a 6 o'clock nap. They're gonna be up all night._

When we made it back to my house, Edward turned the car off and twisted towards me. "Thanks for coming, Bella. I don't usually have too much fun at these parties, but I did today."

I smiled. "I'm glad. We had fun, too. Your parents are probably the sweetest people I've ever met. That doesn't really surprise me, though."

"Why's that?"

I reached up and lightly tapped under his chin. "Because you're pretty sweet yourself, Cullen. You had to get it from somewhere."

He smiled shyly. I leaned over, kissed his cheek, and then hopped out of the car, grinning. After a moment, he got out and helped me lug our stuff inside and put the twins in their bed, and then said goodbye and left.

When the door shut behind him, I leaned against it, smiling to myself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Do you feel it shifting? They're slowly but surely making their way to where you want them to be. Have patience, friends. (I originally wrote that as "have patients", which means something totally different. It must be the nursing student in me, lol.)

So, what was your favorite part? Were you happy with Bella and the twin's first meeting of Esme and Carlisle?

P.S. As you can guess, my posting schedule is a bit thrown off. I'll try to keep posting once a week, but I'm not sure anymore which day it will be. Thanks for understanding!


	11. Kangaroo Trees and Dinner for Four

**A/N**: Er…..hi? I don't know what to say. School's been crazy busy, and it's about to get crazier. To top it off, I had to move unexpectedly and that took more of my time. I also failed at review replies this time around. Excuses suck, I know. Forgive me?

But can I just say that despite the fact that it took me almost a month to update, that not one of you all complained about the wait in a review or sent me PMs demanding that I update? You guys are da bomb like that. (Although you're always welcome to give me a little gentle encouragement if I take forever. ;) )

Lastly, thanks to **rosellebec **for prereading and getting it back to me quickly! You're a doll!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11 – Kangaroo Trees and Dinner for Four<strong>

**Edward**

"What do you think, Chelsea? Does it look like a kangaroo?" I held up my drawing so that she could see it.

Wednesdays are always my favorite days to volunteer at the hospital, because it usually means that I get to hang out with the patients in the children's wing. For some reason, they're always short volunteers on Wednesdays, which is fine by me because it means that I get to play instead of passing out books or refilling soap dispensers.

"No," she replied in her high-pitched 6-year-old voice. "It kinda looks like a tree, though. See," she pointed, "it even has a hole with a owl in it."

I scoffed. "An owl…? That's a baby sticking out of the mama's pouch! And since when does a tree have ears and arms? Huh?"

"Those are the branches, silly."

"How can you say that? I am totally not seeing what –"

"Those are the roots," she interrupted, explaining, "these are branches, this is the hole with the owl, and all of that up there are the leaves."

I cocked my head to the side while I looked at it. "Huh. You're right."

She giggled. "Told ya."

"Alright, alright. Let's just agree that it's awesome, whatever it is. What are you drawing?" I tapped my chin in contemplation. "Let me guess: a sideways flower?"

"No!" she said, laughing. "I'm drawing a dolphin, because I'm gonna be a dolphin trainer when I grow up."

"Very cool. That'd be a fun job. Once, when I was little, my parents took me on vacation and I got to swim with a dolphin. It pulled me around by its fin."

Her eyes lit up. "Me too! We did that for my birthday last year. That's how I knowed that I wanted to be one."

I smiled at her enthusiasm. I was glad that her illness hadn't stomped all over her spirit like it has the tendency to do for so many other children.

A nurse wearing Looney Tune scrubs walked into the recreation room and smiled. "Chelsea, it's time for lunch, honey. Your parents brought your little sister to come eat with you today! Are you finished coloring with your friend?"

"Yes!" She jumped up. "Bye Edward!" she said, throwing her arms around my neck before running toward the nurse. Just as they were about to walk out the door, she turned around quickly and came back, handing me her picture. "Here, you can have this. I already have lots in my room."

I smiled. "Thank you, Chelsea. I'll put it in my classroom when school starts back up. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay, bye!"

She was the last kid that was left in the recreation room, so once she left I figured it would be a good time for me to take off for the day. My mom had invited me over for lunch so I needed to head out soon, anyway. I could only imagine what she wanted to talk about.

…

"I just can't get over how adorable they are! And I'm not just talking about the twins, either."

She grinned and winked at me, and I rolled my eyes for the 20th time since we began eating.

"So you've said, Mom."

She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at me. "Oh, stop being so grumpy, Edward. Don't act like you're not completely taken by them. I saw you with my own eyes at the party. Why is it always such a chore to get you to talk about these things with me?"

I sighed. "It's not. I am being grumpy. Sorry, Mom." I gave her my patented smirk and she smiled, uncrossing her arms.

"Apology accepted. So, what's really going on with you, then? You guys seemed very close at the barbeque a few days ago."

"Yeah, we have been getting closer, which I've enjoyed. And you're right; they've got me completely wrapped around their fingers. It's just…I'm afraid that I might be getting caught in the friend zone, you know?"

She scrunched up her eyebrows. "What makes you say that?" She stood up and began gathering our dishes while I continued to talk.

"I don't know. We've gotten to the point where we're pretty comfortable as friends, so I guess I'm not sure how to evolve that into a relationship. And if I'm being completely honest, I don't even know if she wants us to be more."

"Pardon my language," she said, stopping in her tracks and facing me, "but that's bullshit, dear. She's absolutely smitten with you. She may not be one to hang all over you like I've seen some of your female coworkers do at the school bake sales, but she doesn't hide her feelings very well, either."

I ran my hand through my hair and looked away in embarrassment. "You think?"

"Yes, I think. And if you want things to progress, then progress them. Ask her over for dinner."

"Okay," I replied, nodding. _That could work. _"I'll call her later to ask."

"That's my boy. Now, tell me more about the adoption. Bella started to tell me the other day but wasn't able to finish."

My eyes widened in surprise. "She told you? How did that even come up?"

My mom looked down guiltily and I knew instantly that I wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"Mom…were you rude to her?"

"Oh, of course not, Edward. Don't be so dramatic. I was just making sure she wasn't going to hurt you, that's all."

"And exactly how did you do that?" I narrowed my eyes in her direction.

She began picking at her manicured nail and whispered quietly, "I may have asked about the twins' father."

"Mom!" I yelled.

"Well, I'm sorry! But after everything with Tanya, I wasn't going to take any chances. I wasn't rude to her, though. I simply asked if he lived outside of Forks and then she told me they were adopted."

I calmed down a little. _Okay. That's not so bad._ "Oh. Sorry for yelling, then."

She waved me off. "We didn't get much farther than that, but she told me I could ask you if I was curious. I am, but mostly because I don't understand how someone so young would be given twins. Not that she's not an excellent mother from what I've seen, but it's surprising."

I went into detail and told her all about the twins' biological mother and how Bella met her in the bookstore and helped throughout the pregnancy and about the money that Bella inherited. I didn't tell it nearly as well as Bella did to me, but by the end of the story my mom looked in awe of Bella and their story. _I know how she feels._

"Wow," she said, shaking her head back and forth. "What a selfless thing for someone so young to do."

I smiled thinking of Bella and what an amazing person she is, and how lucky I am to have met her.

"I know. The most incredible part is that she doesn't even see it like that. She told me that it wasn't really a choice, because she already loved them and wouldn't stop at anything until she had them. In fact, I got the feeling that she thinks she was being self_ish_, because she didn't even consider the option of letting someone else adopt them."

My mom exhaled loudly and stood up. "Edward, I'm going to be blunt with you: you need to kick it into gear. Push your way out of the friend zone and head for a touchdown. And just so you know, your dad and I are cheerleaders in this game. We're happy if you're happy."

I laughed at her metaphor, picturing her and dad wearing cheer uniforms and jumping up and down on the sidelines while I run through a football field headed toward the end zone where Bella and the twins are waiting.

_Um, no, Edward._

_She started it!_

I shook my head to clear those thoughts and stood up as well. "Thanks, Mom. And thanks for lunch. It was delicious _and_ informative."

I walked over to her and hugged her goodbye. When we pulled away, she patted my cheek and smiled.

"You're welcome. Now run home and call Bella. Tell her I said 'hi'."

…

I couldn't decide what I wanted to say to Bella when I asked her to come over for dinner.

_Should I somehow specify that it will be a date? Or maybe make it sound casual and have the kids come, too? Maybe invite over Jas and Alice to keep the pressure off?_

In the end I chose to go with casual. It was probably because I was too afraid of what she would say if I asked her out on a real date, but I reasoned that it couldn't hurt to spend more time with all of them together and that if I wanted to see her soon, which I did, it would be rude to ask her to find a babysitter for Brady and Lola on short notice.

I checked the clock and realized that she'd probably still be at work, so I texted her before I called.

_E - Hey, are you busy right now?_

He reply came almost instantly.

_B - Extremely. These books aren't going to stack themselves, you know._

_E - Is that sarcasm I sense, missy?_

_B - How very perceptive of you. It's dead in here. _

_E - Wednesday afternoon isn't a popular time to indulge in book shopping, huh?_

_B - I'm thinking of dressing up in an alluring costume and holding up a sign that says "Books Don't Bite" just to have something to do with my time._

_E - Interesting. Let's discuss this alluring costume you speak of. Just how alluring are we talking about here?_

I realized that it was much easier for me to be bold when I talked through text.

I started rethinking my boldness, however, when Bella didn't reply back. Almost 10 minutes had passed and I still hadn't received a text from her. I hoped that she didn't think I was overstepping a line with my comment, but if she did, that would further prove that, unfortunately, I seemed to have gotten myself stuck in the friend zone.

_Yippee._

Just as I was rethinking asking Bella and the kids over for dinner, I finally, _finally_ got a text.

_B – Sorry! We actually had a customer. And it has feathers._

_E – The customer has feathers?_

_B – Lol, no, my costume. It would have brightly-colored feathers. And frills._

_E – Ah, got it. Will you also be wearing a fruit hat? Also, can I call you right now?_

Her answering reply was short and confusing.

_B – Nope._

_No? Is she referring to the fruit hat or me calling?_

As I was pondering that, my phone started ringing in my hand. It was Bella.

I smiled and answered it. "Hey."

She giggled a little before she responded. "Hi. What's up?"

"Not too much. Actually," I paused, trying to gather the nerve to ask her. I didn't know why I was so nervous, because essentially I was just asking her to hang out, and we've done that plenty of times before, but this time felt different for some reason.

"Actually…?" she hedged when I didn't continue.

"Right, um, I was wondering if you and the kids wanted to come over for dinner tonight."

"Oh." She sounded surprised by the request. "Well …" she trailed off, making me nervous.

"I know it's late notice," I rushed out, "so if you're busy, I totally –"

"No, it's not…I mean, yes, we're busy, or else I'd say yes."

I calmed down a little when I realized she wasn't completely rejecting the idea. "Oh, okay." I'm pretty sure that I didn't hide the disappointment very well, though.

"Sorry. It's just that Emmett has the kids today and he's claiming that I've been neglecting him lately, so were having dinner with him and Rose when I come over after work."

"No need to apologize." I paused "Uh, what about tomorrow or Friday? Would you want to do it then, maybe?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." I could hear the smile in her voice and it made me incredibly happy. "How about Friday? That'll give us a day in between to chill out at home."

"Great. Perfect. I'll call you tomorrow with directions to my place." I held the phone between my ear and shoulder so that I could wipe off my sweaty hands on my pants. _Jesus. I'm a 14-year-old boy._

"Okay."

"So…I'll see you Friday, then?"

"Looking forward to it," she replied.

Once we hung up with each other I let out a huge breath that I didn't realize I was holding. The first part was done. Now all I had to do was learn to cook something.

_Better call Esme._

…

It only took me somewhere around 3 minutes on the phone with my mother before I realized that doing the cooking myself was not an option. So I did what any self-respecting 24-year-old would do and asked my mommy to come over and do it for me.

She easily agreed, in true Esme fashion, so when Friday came she stopped by for an hour or so and got it all set up for me. Now my house smelled wonderful and I was expecting Bella and the kids to be here any minute.

When I heard her car pulling into my driveway, I had to stop myself from running out the door and smothering her in a hug. It felt like forever since I last saw her (even though it had been less than a week) and I was way too excited.

As calmly as possible, I opened my front door and walked over to her car as she was unbuckling Brady. Once she had them both out and standing next to her, she looked up and smiled at me.

"Hey," I said, stepping forward without hesitance and enveloping her in a hug. _Get out of the friend zone, Edward. Run for the touchdown._ I bent my head forward a little more and tightened my hold before pulling away and kissing her cheek.

Her cheeks had taken on a pinkish tone and she seemed a little flustered by my actions, but her face lit up with her sweet, adorable Bella-smile that always makes me smile back. "Hey, back."

I bent down and scooped the kids up. "Hello to you, too, anteaters. Let's go in. I'll give you guys a personal tour of casa de Edward."

I gestured for Bella to walk in first once we got to the door. When we were inside, Brady wanted down to walk but Lola stayed put in my arms.

"It smells amazing in here. What did you make?" asked Bella.

"Oh…um, pasta?" _What did my mom call it, again?_

Bella narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Pasta? So, like…noodles, then?"

"Yeah, it's…some type of pasta-thing with noodles. And the…bread stuff that goes with it."

"Right. Bread stuff." She chuckled. "You made it and you don't know what it's called?"

"I…" I judged her smile as teasing, so I assumed she had already deduced that the food wasn't prepared by my incapable hands. "No." I sighed. "My mom came over earlier and made it for me."

I at least had the good sense to look guilty about it.

Bella gasped and swatted at my chest. "Edward! You didn't have to have her do that. We would've been fine with pizza or something. Or I could've made something when I got here. I can't believe you had your mom come all the way over here just to cook dinner and leave!"

I laughed, grabbing her hand and tugging her out of the front hallway. "It's _fine_, I promise. She likes to cook, anyway. Now, follow me."

She grumbled but still trailed after me, holding Brady's hand as I led them through the house: my living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the bathroom, and finally, my favorite room of all.

"And this - this is what I call my random room. It's kind of like a library/music/office/play room of sorts. It's got my books, my iPod dock, my desk, my computer, the Wii, and my piano."

"Whoa, this is awesome." She turned to me with a twinkle in her eye. "You play piano?"

I ran the hand not holding Lola through my hair in embarrassment. "Um…yeah, a little. Well, that's not true. I'm actually very good, objectively speaking. I almost majored in Music Composition before I decided on Elementary Education, but I figured that, if I wanted to, I could combine both at some point and teach piano lessons."

"Ugh," said Bella as she slumped her shoulders dramatically.

"What?"

"I swear, Edward Cullen, every time you say things like that you further cement my belief that you're a pretty perfect human being."

I beamed at her praise, grinning from ear to ear, while she just rolled her eyes at me.

I always leave my iPod playing quietly through the speakers, and just then it switched from a slow song to a catchy pop song that plays on the radio all the time.

Brady's eyes lit up in recognition. "I like dis song, Ehwood!"

He proceeded to shake his butt to the beat and hum along. Lola wiggled to be put down, so I granted her request and she began dancing with Brady. They held hands, bopped their heads, and started stomping around the room energetically.

My eyes found Bella, who was watching their display and giggling.

"Those are some moves they've got there," I said, amused.

She smirked and walked toward me, swaying her body a bit. "You don't have to tell me that. I taught them everything they know."

She grabbed one of my hands and held it above us as she danced back and forth to the song, shaking and shimmying and just being all around adorable. I smiled at her playfulness.

"Come on. Move those hips, Cullen! Let's see what you got." She tugged me more toward the middle of the room, trying to get me to dance along. I've never been a great dancer, but I can hold my own, so I moved along with her, causing her smile to grow and her hips to inch a little closer to mine. _Or maybe I just imagined that last part._

"Dance party!" yelled Lola, and Bella and I laughed.

She let go of my hand and we danced with the twins until the song was over, and then I announced that it was time to eat.

I made sure to pull out all the stops to impress her. Two booster seats were already set up for the kids and the table was neatly arranged. I helped her get the twins settled in and then pulled out her chair like a gentlemen, which caused Bella to roll her eyes at me again, but I could tell she was trying to hide a smile.

Once we began eating, Bella immediately let it be known that she enjoyed the food. Albeit, in a rather unconventional way.

"Oh, my God," she moaned, "this is like an orgasm in my mouth, it's so good."

_Say _what_, now?_

My eyes grew to the size of saucers at her comment and we both froze. The twins continued eating as if nothing was said while Bella and I just sat there; her looking completely uncomfortable and me trying to swallow the food in my mouth without choking.

"Um…that sounded…I mean, I didn't mean to…sorry. That was weird."

I burst out laughing when she was done rambling and she hid her face in her hands, groaning.

"Shut _up_, dude. It's not that funny."

When I stopped laughing, she peeked at me between her fingers and I cocked my head to one side. "I mean, I'm just trying to picture what something like that might look like."

"Don't picture that!" When I started laughing again, she glared at me. "You know what? I'm just going to turn around and eat this meal in peace, thank you very much."

She made to start turning her chair around and I reached across the table to stop her. "Sorry, I'll stop. Scout's honor." I held up two fingers. "But you are a very strange human being."

She chuckled at that. "I won't deny that. In my defense, though, I grew up with Emmett, okay? And Alice looks all sweet and small and innocent, but she can be one of the crudest people I know. It rubs off."

"Gotcha. So tell me how you really feel about the meal," I said, smirking.

She threw a piece of bread at me. "Seriously, it's amazing. Tell your mom that she can cook for me anytime she wants to."

"I'm being completely serious when I tell you that she'd be over your house tomorrow if I did that."

"And I'm being completely serious when I say I wouldn't mind."

We continued talking during the duration of the meal and even during my amazing attempt at dessert (vanilla ice cream and some spoons). When we were all finished, it was still fairly early, so I asked if everyone wanted to go outside for a bit.

I got out some old outdoor toys that I still had from when I was younger for the twins to play with in the yard and Bella and I sat on the back porch, watching as they entertained themselves. I tried to subtly pull my chair as close to Bella's as possible so that our arms were touching, but it made this horrendous screeching noise when I did so it ended up being glaringly obvious.

"The one thing that I was disappointed in when I bought my house was that it didn't have a back porch to sit on. I think I want to have one built when the twins get a little older."

"Oh yeah?" She nodded. "I could build one for you. I mean…if you want. I used to work part-time for a construction company during the summers in high school. It wouldn't be that difficult."

She crossed her legs and bounced her foot up and down as she shook her head side to side. "You're doing it again, Edward."

"Doing what?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"Making me think you're too perfect." She took on a caveman-style voice. "Me Edward. Me coach special education baseball and teach 3rd graders. Me fix lawn mowers and build things. Me volunteer at hospitals and play piano and have a pretty face."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her. "Okay, first of all, it's only one hospital, and my dad works there, so it's not that ridiculous of a notion, second of all, a lot of people play an instrument, and third, and perhaps most important of all, you think my face is pretty?" I leaned closer to her and gave her my most charming smile.

She giggled, nodding. "Yes, but don't let it go to your head, mister."

"Why would I? That's not a compliment. You basically just called me feminine. I'm offended," I teased.

"And now you're just fishing for compliments about your masculinity. Forget it. I've stroked your ego enough tonight."

I chuckled and then we settled into a comfortable silence watching the kids.

Lola was trying to get up a little hill holding a soccer ball, but she couldn't maneuver with it in her hands so she set it down, which of course allowed it to roll down the little bit of the hill she had climbed. She didn't notice until she got to the top, and then she scowled and huffed before heading back down and pretty much doing the exact same thing.

Bella laughed. "I'll be right back," she said before getting up to go and help her. "Baby, you can't set it down halfway up the hill or it will keep rolling down."

I shook my head at their silliness and let myself go over how the night was going. As far as I could tell, everything had gone great. Dinner was delicious (_thanks, mom!_), the twins were having fun, and Bella seemed to be enjoying herself as well.

There was one thing that I wanted to talk about, though, but I wasn't sure if I should bring it up tonight, and that was the guy from the grocery store. Jacob.

_Or "Jake" as Bella so familiarly referred to him as. Not that that bothers me or anything…_

When Bella came to sit back down, I resolved to just ask her about it. It didn't seem to be a sore subject when I asked her about it before, so it couldn't hurt to ask now.

"Hey…Bella?" I tapped my pointer finger on her hand to get her attention.

She looked over at me with a smile. "Waddup?"

"Um…I was just wondering if I could ask you about the guy from the grocery store that we saw last weekend. Jacob, I think?"

Her smile didn't falter, but her foot stopped the bouncing that it was doing previously and she sighed softly.

"Yeah," she paused. "He's my ex-boyfriend."

"Oh. Okay." I nodded, trying to look nonchalant. She didn't seem like she was going to say anymore, so I prodded a little bit. "Is that it, then? I mean, that's fine, but in the car you said it was a long story, so I just assumed it was more than just your average ex story. Not that you have to even tell me if it is, I was just, you know, curious. But you know what they say about cur –"

"Edward," she said, interrupting my rambling. _Thank God. _"I wasn't done talking."

I chuckled nervously. "Sorry, go on."

She smiled at me and then sighed. "We were friends growing up, and then we dated throughout high school. I was, um…" she trailed off, then tried again, "I was kind of still with him when I decided to adopt the twins."

"What?" I asked, shocked. "How did…I mean, what does that…is he…but you said…and he didn't seem…"

"Edward! I didn't say that I was with him when I _adopted_ them, or that we adopted them together. He's not their father. Calm down."

I stopped mid-ramble and blew out of breath in relief. "Right. Sorry…again."

She smiled slightly and shook her head. "It's fine. Anyway, we were dating when I came to the decision that I was going to adopt them, so needless to say it was an awkward situation for us."

I laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, I can see how that would be an issue."

She nodded. "I mean, I sort of caught everyone off-guard with it. It wasn't exactly something that I thought too much about, you know? All I knew was that I was going to do it, no matter what anyone else said. Everyone had a different initial reaction when I told them, and Jake was no exception. He felt betrayed."

"Because you didn't talk to him about it first?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. Because I essentially chose them over him." She glanced at my confused expression before continuing. "When I told him what I was going to do, I made it clear that it was something that _I_ was going to do. Alone."

"Oh." I nodded, finally understanding what she was saying.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, Jake's a great guy; he's fun, and happy, and he was always a great boyfriend. I did love him. He was just so young-minded still. I grew up pretty fast during the months before the twins were born."

"So who broke up with whom, then?"

She shrugged. "It was never really that clear-cut. I knew that he still wanted to be with me, but I also knew that he didn't want to become a parent, and he knew that I loved him, but that I was still choosing to adopt them. "

"So he never offered or asked to be involved in any other way? Technically, you could have stayed together even if he wasn't a part of the adoption."

"Staying together came up briefly, but we weren't kidding ourselves. We both knew that my life was about to change in a huge capacity, and there was really no way that he could avoid a permanent role in their lives and still have our relationship be anything of substance. And despite the fact that I loved him," she looked down guiltily and tucked her hair behind her ear, "I didn't want him to be a part of it. It was selfish, but I wanted them to be _mine_."

"That's not selfish, Bella. That's love." I nudged her arm and she smiled.

"Anyway, it's not like I expected him to want to take on the father role, either. It's not like he got me knocked up and then refused to be responsible for his actions. I mean, I've been on birth control since I was 16 and he knew that, but he always made sure to wear –"

"I got it!" I said, cutting her off and trying not to cringe. _Well, the question on whether she's a virgin or not has been answered. Unfortunately._

She laughed uncomfortably. "Right. Sorry. What I mean is that he was always overly cautious when it came to…" she eyed me apologetically, "…that, so why should he have to be accountable for two kids that he didn't create? It was my thing, not his."

"That makes sense," I said, trying to forget about what Bella just implied and focus on the bigger story.

She pulled her legs up onto the chair and hugged them, staring off at the kids playing. "Yeah, so, it was just a really messy situation. We parted ways shortly after and I haven't seen him since. Well, until last weekend."

I was listening to what she was saying, but I still couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she'd had sex with Jacob. It's not that I thought that she was a virgin, but I hadn't really put any time into thinking about it, and now I couldn't stop. And then something else popped into my head. I cleared my throat before I spoke. "So does that mean that the clothes you gave me to wear the first day that I came over your house were his?"

Without looking at me she replied, "Yeah. I had them from a camping trip we took a few months before we broke up."

"Uck," I said, shuddering in disgust.

She looked at me, surprised at my reaction but smiling. "What? It's not like I was sniffing them before bed every night. I just never got rid of them."

I chuckled. "No, it's not that. It's just…you gave me your ex-boyfriend's boxers to wear?" I couldn't help shuddering again as I said it.

She started laughing and then I was the one confused. "_Those_ weren't his, Edward. They were mine. I like to wear boxers as pajama shorts for bed. They're cheap and comfortable." She shrugged and then snorted. "Jesus, I'm not that weird."

I blew out a breath. "Thank God, because it's not okay for me to be in something that another man's junk has been in." I started to laugh but then abruptly stopped when I realized that that comment could have been interpreted as something completely different than what I meant. I hesitantly chanced a look at Bella and knew instantly that she could guess what I was thinking.

She had a knowing grin on her face and pushed my shoulder before standing up and muttering "pervert" as she walked over to the kids.

_Awesome._

We didn't talk about my strange comment as we played with the twins for another half hour, and sooner than I would have liked it came time for them to head home.

I helped Bella get everything ready and then walked them to her car. After the kids were buckled in and yawning, I said goodbye to them and then shut the back doors.

I turned to Bella and shoved my hands in my pockets. "So."

"So." She smiled. "Thanks for having your mother make dinner for us."

I chuckled. "It was no problem."

"Oh, I believe you. It was probably no trouble for _you_ at all," she teased, kicking at my shoe.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I set the table all by myself."

She giggled and shook her head. "Sorry, you're right. That must have taken you hours."

I nodded and opened her car door for you. "It did."

She hesitated getting in. "So, hey…I'm painting the kids' bedroom next Sunday, so they're going over to my dad's for the day."

"Is that so?" I smiled, realizing what she was getting at.

"Yeah. Anyway, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come over and –"

"I'd love to," I answered before she could finish. "I'd love to come over and help you paint."

She laughed at my quick reply. "Yeah?" I nodded eagerly. "Okay, cool. My dad's picking them up at 9:30, so does 10am sound alright?"

_6am would be alright if that meant I got to spend time with you. _I smiled. "That sounds great."

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I hugged her back and lifted her off the ground a little, causing her to squeak in surprise. When I set her back down she was smiling.

"Bye," she said as she reached up and tapped under my chin. That's something that she's done before, and I was beginning to wonder if she had a thing for chins. I caught her hand before she could pull it away and held it there, causing her smile to widen. "I'm gonna need my hand back to leave."

I turned it over so that her palm was facing the ground and brought her hand to my lips, kissing it softly and then letting it drop between us. "I'll talk to you soon."

She smiled shyly and nodded before getting in her car and driving away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I just noticed that almost every single one of my chapters end with them saying goodbye to each other in some way or another. I'm gonna try to change that.

Did you enjoy the chapter? Do you think Edward's stuck in the friend zone, or do you think it's all in his head?

I don't normally do fic recs (maybe I should start, though?), but I wanted to rec a newish fic called **Silent Sufferer** by cruiz107. It doesn't have nearly as many reviews as it should and needs some love from you guys. Check it out. :)

Next chapter they paint the kids' room! *whispers* And _maybe_ something else of importance happens…*runs off*

*runs back* In a completely random and unrelated note: Her boyfriend is English. *snickers*


	12. Break Downs and the Look

**A/N**: Are you even reading this? Based on my end A/N on the last chapter, or if you follow me on Twitter, you know this one has…something I think you'll like. So go ahead…start reading. I won't be offended if you skip over my cute little disclaimer.

Thanks to **rosellebec **for being awesomesauce and prereading for me. :)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12 – Break Downs and the Look<strong>

**Bella**

"Just once more and then we'll stop. Promise."

"No you won't! You said that the last time!" I huffed and crossed by arms childishly.

"Rose is right, Bella. We both swear not to ask again after this," added Alice, sitting on the edge of her chair and bouncing her legs in anticipation.

After Alice was finished telling us all about her first few dates with Jasper (which had all gone swimmingly), I made the mistake of telling her and Rose about the dinner Edward invited us to last Friday. They thought it was adorable that he invited the kids along on our "first date", but I wasn't sold on the fact that it was even a date at all.

"Fine," I said, sighing. Then I went into detail, again, about the night; how he greeted me in such a sweet way and got me all flustered, the tour and how I learned that he plays piano, the dinner where I made things really awkward, our conversation on his porch where I told him about my past with Jake and how Edward said all the right things in response, and then finally, our goodbye and me asking him over to help paint and the hand-kiss that made my insides want to melt and combust at the same time.

"That boy is seriously trying hard, Bella. When are you gonna throw him a bone?" asked Rose.

I looked at her, confused. "What do you mean 'throw him a bone'?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Well, everything you've told us sounds great, but it's all pretty tame. From what I can tell, he seems hesitant to go beyond these cute, PG gestures. You may need to initiate the next move here."

Alice nodded. "I agree with Rose."

"I don't know…"

I thought back to Edward's past with Tanya and could see how that might affect his confidence with relationships now, but I still wasn't sure if I could make the next move. I didn't want to look like an idiot or ruin what we had already if that isn't what he wants. _Is this how boys feel in these situations?_

"Well, just think about it, then." Rose shrugged and then continued. "Have you seen him since the dinner or will tomorrow be the first time?"

"I've seen him some, but not for long. He's really busy right now because school starts back up on Monday, but he stopped by the bookstore a couple times this week to bring me coffee." I smiled at the memory of him unexpectedly showing up and charming me with his consideration despite how swamped he's been.

"Jasper's been really busy as well. All the more reason to make the most of the time you'll have with him tomorrow." Alice grinned mischievously and I rolled my eyes at her.

Before she could carry on with her line of thinking, Emmett and the kids stampeded into the room, saving me.

Lola and Brady skipped over to the couch that we were sitting on and climbed into my lap, snuggling around until they got comfortable.

I kissed their heads and smiled. "Did you guys have fun playing outside with Uncle Em?"

All they offered me were nods and yawns. Emmett always wears them out; they're not used to all the physical activity he forces on them for his own fun.

Emmett tried to sit down next to Rose, but he was covered in sweat so she shooed him onto the floor. "Heck yeah, we did. I dominated tag," he exclaimed proudly.

"Dats 'cause you cheat, Emmy!" Lola said, sitting up and sassily waving her finger around.

"It's not cheating; it's called _strategy_, little one. It's not my fault you always fall for it."

Rose ignored Emmett's childish behavior and addressed the kids. "Jeez, guys. What are we, chopped liver?"

"I know, right? You just spent an hour playing with Uncle Em, and now you're letting your mom hog you when she gets to see you every single day. Where's the love?" Alice added.

The twins giggled and I nudged them off my lap so that they could go sit with the girls. "Go spend a little time with your aunts before we have to go. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day so it's early baths and then bed when we get home. God knows Grandpa will be getting you monsters nice and dirty tomorrow."

Brady crawled into Rose's lap and smiled. "We goin' fishing?" he asked me.

"You'll have to ask him. Although if you do, I bet this time he'll listen to me about not using live bait. I'm sure he doesn't want to stick his fingers in your sister's mouth to get out the worm again."

We all laughed and Alice tickled Lola's side and informed her that she really needs to stop eating living creatures.

"Pop's gonna have 'em all day tomorrow?" asked Emmett and I nodded. "Sweet. Maybe I'll head over there for the game."

We all chatted a little bit more until it started getting late, and then Alice and I thanked Emmett and Rose for dinner and left.

Once the kids and I got home, I gave them a bath and put them to bed. They were out like a light. I, however, had a harder time falling asleep. My thoughts kept drifting to tomorrow and the fact that Edward and I would essentially be spending the whole day alone. Rose's words kept replaying in my mind.

_You may need to initiate the next move here._

…

My dad was a little late picking up the kids in the morning even though he only lives about 5 minutes away. Apparently there was a really bad accident and he had to handle some over-the-phone work because of it. He hasn't been working as much since _his_ accident, but he still works more than he should.

Luckily for me, Edward seemed to be running late, too. I wasn't sure that I would be able to deal with my dad and his antics if Edward had shown up before he left with the kids.

However, when 10:30 rolled around (thirty minutes after the time Edward and I had agreed on), I started to get worried that I still hadn't heard from him. I tried calling his cell phone but he didn't answer.

_Weird. Maybe he slept in. He _has_ been really busy lately._

_He would've called you if that were the case, though._

_Not if he didn't mean to!_

_Or maybe he's just blowing you off._

I turned on the radio in the kitchen in order to drown out my thoughts. I knew that whatever the reason for him being late was, it wasn't intentional. Edward's not like that.

A song was just ending and the radio announcer's voice filled my kitchen.

"_It's now 10:40am on this Saturday morning in Forks, Washington. For commuters, traffic on Highway 101 is still backed up due to an accident that is blocking the left two lanes. Officials say that a silver Volvo was hit on the passenger's side by an erratic driver in a white Pontiac Aztek. No information on whether or not there are any injuries, however both cars were rolled off of the road with the impact and apparently caught fire. Police are still on the scene, so hopefully we'll have more information for you in the next update. Traffic is brought to you by…" _

The voice faded away as my head began to pound. All I could hear was "silver Volvo" and "rolled off the road" and "caught fire". I grabbed my phone and quickly dialed Edward's cell number again, but once again he didn't answer.

I dropped down into a kitchen chair and called Alice, hastily asking her for Jasper's number and brushing her off when she wondered what I wanted it for.

When I called him, I tried to keep my voice steady because I didn't want him to worry when I had no real evidence that it was Edward who was in the accident, but inside I was about 10 seconds away from having a panic attack.

After awkwardly greeting him, I asked if he had heard from Edward since he was running a little late. When he said that he hadn't, I wanted to scream in frustration. I ended the call and started pulling at my hair. I was trying not to get caught up in my head but the thoughts kept coming at me in full force.

_What if it's him? That's the road he takes to get here, and that's the color _and_ kind of car he drives. He's late, which isn't like him, and he isn't answering his phone, which also isn't like him._

I stood up and started to pace, but quickly realized that it wasn't helping at all, so I rushed outside and sat down on the steps, willing his car to pull into my driveway.

I tried his cell for what felt like the 50th time, and when I got his voicemail I left a message that ended up coming out extremely desperate. It probably didn't even make sense, because I was really starting to lose it. I was so worried.

I roughly set down my phone next to me and dropped my head into my hands. I contemplated getting in my car and heading in that direction, but I knew that would do me no good and I didn't want to be gone if he did end up getting here.

Just as I was about to head back inside to do…_something_ else besides sit and here and let the worry consume me, I heard the familiar crunch of gravel that meant a car was pulling in.

I whipped my head up out of my hands and nearly passed out in relief when I saw Edward getting out of his car with a worried look on his face. "Bella?"

I jumped up and nearly sprinted to where he was, throwing myself at him and wrapping my arms around his neck tightly. Before I could stop them, sobs began erupting out of me and the emotions that I didn't realize I had been holding back all let themselves be known in that moment.

"Shh, shh. It's okay. Calm down, Bella. Tell me what's wrong." He was rubbing my back soothingly and holding me just as tightly as I was holding him.

When I calmed down a little, I pulled my head out from where it'd been nestled in his neck. Keeping my eyes fixated on the top button of his shirt, I said, "Sorry…I'm sorry. I just…I…" I had to stop because my voice was so shaky and hoarse from crying.

Edward reached up and wiped the tears off of my face and shook his head. "Hey, don't apologize. It's alright. Just…tell me what's wrong." I could see the worry still in his eyes.

I cleared my throat and tried to talk. "It's nothing. I…my dad told me there was an accident, and then on the radio they said…" my erratic breathing from my crying interrupted me, so I started again, "…they said there was a silver Volvo, and that it rolled off the road and caught fire, and you were late and weren't answering your phone, and…and who the _fuck_ else has a fucking silver Volvo in this fucking town?"

_Apparently the excess adrenaline was causing my moods to become erratic as well._

His expression instantly switched to one of understanding and his eyes widened. "Oh my God, Bella, I'm so sorry. I was late because traffic was so backed up from the accident, and I forgot my phone at home so I couldn't call to tell you." He looked down guiltily. "I'm so, _so_ sorry for worrying you."

I shook my head and suddenly started to feel really stupid over my outburst. "No, it's fine, really. I overreacted. I just thought…I'm fine."

He tipped my chin up with his finger so that I was looking at him and smiled. "You weren't overreacting. I can guarantee you that if our roles were reversed, I would've been in a lot worse state than you were."

I sniffled. "Yeah, right."

"I'm not kidding. My hair would've been ripped out and I would have been calling _everyone_ I know, asking if they'd heard from you. Hell, I might've even contacted missing persons." He grinned at me.

"Well, I did get Jasper's number from Alice," I said, still a little embarrassed but mostly going along with him now.

"You did?" He scrunched up his face. "Jeez, overdramatic, much?"

I choked on a laugh and swatted his arm. He put an arm around me and started walking us toward the house.

"Seriously, though, I am sorry that I worried you. That was stupid of me to leave my phone."

I waved him off. "Everyone does it. It's not your fault that it happened to be the worst timing ever."

He chuckled as we made our way inside.

…

"Stop laughing at me! It was not that funny."

"Yes, it was. And who says I'm laughing at you. I could be laughing _with_ you."

"That would be a possibility, Bella, _if I was laughing_."

I started up again and I could tell that he was trying to hold back a smile. "Alright, I'll stop. But you deserved that. 'Bella, I don't need your help. This is a _man's_ work'." I imitated what Edward sounded like right before he dropped Brady's dresser on his foot.

He couldn't keep a straight face anymore and finally chuckled. "You're right. I deserved it." He pouted. "But I was just trying to seem like a manly man. You can't blame me for that."

"No, I get it. That little girly scream you did right after really helped you out with that, by the way."

I couldn't help myself and started laughing again, causing Edward to growl and lunge for me. I caught on to his movement just in time to escape and run down the stairs.

Unfortunately, I ran myself into the corner of the kitchen, so I turned around and held my hands up in surrender.

He smirked when he saw my predicament. "Are you quite done now?" he asked, hunched over and ready to pounce.

"Calm down, tiger. Yes, I promise. Truce?"

"Truce." He stood up straight and smiled.

I dropped my hands and walked over to him. "You sure like chasing me, Mr. Cullen."

"I think it's more that _you_ like being chased, Ms. Swan. You're the one that always runs."

"I wouldn't run if you didn't get that look in your eye!" I countered.

He scoffed. "What? I have no look."

"You do. It's this certain look, like," I squinted my eyes and put on an evil grin, just like Edward does. Then, even though he doesn't do this, I waggled my eyebrows up and down animatedly.

He started laughing and shook his head. "Okay, now I know that I definitely do not have _that_ look."

"Well, maybe not the eyebrow thing, but everything else was spot on."

"Uh-huh, sure." He looked at me like I was crazy and then turned around and yelled over his shoulder as he walked back upstairs. "Are we gonna start painting or what?"

We spent the next hour and a half taking out the rest of the furniture, putting down sheets, and painting the first coat, all the while quizzing each other on trivial things.

"Favorite breakfast cereal?"

"Come on now, Edward. What else is there besides Lucky Charms?"

"Um, I don't know…cereal for people over the age of 6?"

I laughed. "Well, I'm sorry for having amazing taste. What about you?"

"Trix, hands down."

I rolled my eyes and dipped my roller in the paint. "How is that not a kid's cereal?"

"I never said it wasn't. It's way better than Lucky Charms, though. First illegal thing you remember doing."

I thought for a second. "When we were 11, Alice convinced me to steal a box of tampons from the corner store. I have no idea why tampons were our item of choice, but either way, I got caught and my mom made my dad handle it, since he's a cop and all. He was so uncomfortable talking about it that I barely got in any trouble."

"So I guess the tampons ended up being a good choice after all, then," he responded, smiling.

"I guess so. What's yours?"

He smirked. "Nothing as exciting as stolen feminine products, but my friend Garrett and I drove his mom's car around when we were 15 without her knowing. We had our permits, so technically it was only illegal because there wasn't an adult with us, but we thought we were pretty badass at the time."

"Damn, you guys were wild," I teased. "Okay, longest time you've gone without taking a shower."

"Ah," he cringed, "this could be bad. Umm…I guess probably during one of the family camping trips, so maybe, like, 2 or 3 days?"

I sighed dreamily. "Aw, that's cute that you think that's bad."

"Uh-oh. What's your longest time?"

"You're at amateur status, my friend. I easily doubled that when the twins were younger. I was a master at the art of 3-minute sink showers."

"Oh my God, Bella. That's not right. If things ever get that dire again, let me know. I'd gladly offer my services for the greater good."

I giggled at his serious tone. "I'll keep that in mind. Alright, this one's important: favorite adult person you've met in the last 2 months."

He smiled and pretended (hopefully) to think about it. "Well, I'm sort of torn."

I pouted playfully. "Between who?"

"There's the guy I met at the grocery store last week who was pretty interesting, but there's also this awesome girl who I first met at the park when she fell off the monkey bars. Although, she recently told me that she's gone 6 days without showering, so I think I'll go with the grocery store guy."

I debated flicking paint at him, but settled for flicking him off instead.

…

Once we finished the first coat on all four walls, we took a break for a late lunch and then resumed our tradition of painting and asking random, nonsensical questions while we did the second coat.

Overall, it was very informative. I learned that Edward has always loved reptiles, is mildly afraid of fireworks for no particular reason, and that he secretly loved the Spice Girls when they were big.

In turn, he learned that in middle school I accidentally got full-frontal flashed by my male gym teacher, that I called "volley ball", "bolley ball" until 10th grade, and that I inexplicably find Lil Wayne to be sexy.

By the time we were finished, I was expecting my dad to be back with the twins in less than 30 minutes, so we quickly cleaned up and Edward helped me to start making dinner.

I heard his car pull in and then seconds later tiny feet were running through my front door. I met them halfway and scooped them up.

"Hey bugs! I missed you so, so much today. Did you have a great time with grandpa?" I smiled and waved at my dad, who looked appropriately worn out.

"Grapaw got us chicken donalds!" said Lola excitedly.

"An we played in the play place and gotted toys wid our food! See?" He held up a green Power Ranger.

"Sweet! Now we have all of them." I noticed my dad eyeing something behind me, and turned to see Edward standing there somewhat awkwardly. "Oh, sorry. Dad, this is Edward. Edward, my dad Charlie."

My introduction alerted the twins that he was here, so they both looked around me and smiled. "Hi, Ehwood!" they said in unison.

"Hey, anteaters." Edward stepped forward to my dad with his outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Yeah, you too," he said, shaking his hand and eyeing him warily. I think Edward forgets that "anteaters" isn't your typical nickname. "Brady and Lola told me a lot about you."

He smiled. "Bella's told me a lot about you as well. I'm glad to see your doing better since the accident."

"Yeah, I'm healing up just fine. Thanks." He turned to me and sighed. "Okay, Bells, I'm gonna head home. I need a nap."

I giggled and gave him a hug. "Thanks again, Dad. We'll see you later."

Once we finished saying our goodbyes, Edward and I took the kids into the kitchen and listened to them tell us more about their day while we finished making dinner. Once it was done, we all ate and talked and then after I decided to skip baths so that instead we could play a little more until bedtime.

Even though the paint was dry and we were able to put their stuff back in, the fumes were still pretty strong so I set them up to sleep with me in my bed for the night.

It didn't take long for them to clock out, and then Edward and I headed down and settled in the living room.

I plopped down on the couch and sighed. "Thanks, Edward. For helping me today."

He sat down next to me, so close that our thighs were touching, and smiled. "You're welcome. This was the most fun I've ever had painting."

"I agree." I laid my head back on the couch and closed my eyes.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

I grinned but still kept my eyes closed. "I'm done telling you embarrassing stories about myself, mister."

"No, it's not that. Although, seriously, _Lil Wayne_? The dude's got a grill."

"It's the dreads, okay? Don't make me explain my hair fixation." _Seriously, don't. I'll end up revealing way too much about what I think of _your_ hair._

He laughed nervously. "It's just…this morning, when you thought it was me in the accident…why were you so upset about that?"

I opened my eyes and gave him a "You're seriously asking me that?" look.

"That didn't sound right. What I mean is that, I know the prospect of someone you know getting into a car accident is scary, but the way you reacted when you thought it was me…I mean, you looked like you were going to have a panic attack. It almost seemed like…" he trailed off and looked down uncomfortably.

"Like what?" I asked, equally afraid and hopeful of what he was going to say.

Edward's phone started ringing from his pocket, interrupting us. At my suggestion, he ran home quickly after the accident was cleared to get it so that there wouldn't be any more miscommunications if someone else he knew were to hear about the accident involving a silver Volvo.

I took the distraction as an opportunity to temporarily avoid his line of questioning and stood up, heading to the kitchen to start cleaning up the mess from dinner. "I'll let you get that."

He spoke up so that I could hear him, "And I'll let _you_ think that this conversation is over, missy. For now, at least."

After about 5 minutes of doing the dishes, I realized I hadn't heard Edward speaking since I left and he hadn't joined me yet in the kitchen. _Hmm…maybe he stepped outside to talk._

"Edward?" I yelled. When he didn't answer, I took off my yellow gloves and began walking back toward the living room where I left him. "Edwar –" I stopped mid-name when I saw him sitting on my couch, staring at the phone in his hands and looking upset. "Edward," I said, this time more firmly.

That caught his attention, and he looked up at me with a pained expression. "What?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"What do you mean 'what'? What's wrong? Why do you look like that?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, I'm fine. Sorry, I'm just tired. I should get going, though. It's getting late."

"Edward," I sighed, "will you stop lying to me? I can tell that you're not fine."

He stood up quickly. "I _am_ fine, Bella."

I put up my hand to stop him. "Stop!" I yelled. "Fucking stop _lying_. Ten minutes ago you were smiling and joking around, and then you got a call and suddenly you can barely make eye contact with me and you're trying to leave unexpectedly? I don't know about you, but I'm getting a serious sense of déjà vu. Are you going to avoid me for a week this time, too?" I said sarcastically. I walked closer to him and looked directly into his eyes.

"No, I…" he trailed off, avoiding my stare.

"Who called you?" I asked, even though we both knew that I knew the answer to that.

He looked down, defeated. "I don't know why she called again. I didn't answer."

I stepped even closer, so that we were almost touching and he was forced to look at me. "Edward, I thought you were done with this. I mean, I get that she hurt you, but why do you still let her affect you?"

He set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "What do you want me to do, Bella? I can't help that she calls, and I'm not going to change my number just because she still has it."

"Stop getting defensive, Edward. I'm not putting you on trial here."

His face softened when he realized that's what he was doing. "Sorry."

"It's fine. You haven't done anything wrong. I just…don't understand why you react like this when she calls you. Do you…" I swallowed, "…are you still in love with her?" _Because if you are, that would…_suck_._

I could feel my eyes start to water, but I didn't look away. We needed to get this issue sorted out once and for all.

To my surprise, he didn't look unsure of his answer at all. "No," he stated resolutely. "I do not _love_ Tanya. Not anymore. I don't even like her at this point."

I blinked. "Okay…"

"I just…I _hate_ this, you know?" His voice was angry and filled with venom. "No matter what's going on in my life, all it takes is one single phone call from her, and I…" he paused, his anger fading as he ran his hand through his hair.

I exhaled loudly. "You what?"

"I instantly feel like I did 3 years ago when we broke up. One call and all of those insecurities return. I feel so inadequate and just…not good enough." He sounded like a little boy, talking this way. "I know it's stupid, but –"

"It _is_ stupid," I interrupted. "It's stupid of you to let her make you think that way."

"I can't help it!" he shouted, upset that I was calling him out and not backing down from the topic.

"Why not?" I yelled back. "Help me understand this, because to me it just doesn't make sense for you to get like this if you don't care about her anymore. If you don't love her, then why does it matter if you don't feel good enough for her?"

"It's not that I don't feel good enough _for her_, Bella."

"Then _what_ is it?"

He tugged at his hair again, frustrated. "I mean, I used to feel like that, but I know now that she was the one that messed up. But it's like…if she, my best friend since grade school, so easily lost every ounce of what she once felt for me, then how do I know that it's _not_ because of me, and who's to say that it won't happen again? How do I know that one day you won't –"

He stopped himself abruptly and his eyes went wide as if he'd said too much. He looked panicked and tried to back away from me, but I grabbed his shirt with one hand so that he couldn't.

"Edward…" I had no idea what to say next, but I knew that I couldn't let him leave knowing that he felt this way; knowing that he had such a skewed perception of himself.

He quickly tried to backpedal. "I didn't mean…I know that you don't think of us as…fuck!" he hissed and shut his eyes. I'd never seen Edward act so insecure and unsure of himself. I wanted to change it. I _needed_ to change it.

"You don't know what I think," I whispered.

Going purely on instinct and my need for Edward to realize his own worth, I opened my fist that was still clutching his shirt and laid it flat on his chest. Bringing my other hand next to it, I let my eyes follow as I unhurriedly moved them both up over his shoulders and rested them on the back of his neck in his hair.

His arms stayed tight by his sides, but our noses were almost touching and I could feel his labored breathing on my face.

I leaned forward, nudging his nose with mine, then moved to whisper in his ear, "You're good enough, Edward. You're more than enough. You're more than anyone deserves."

His head fell forward a little and he sighed into my neck.

I moved my lips down and kissed his jaw gently, continuing until I got to his chin. I felt him shiver slightly, so I pulled back a bit and set my forehead against his. "How do you feel?"

My eyes were closed, but I felt him shake his head marginally. "I don't…"

I leaned forward before he could finish and kissed his bottom lip as softly as I could. My fingers moved farther into his hair and I pulled away, only to tilt my head the other way and kiss him again, this time with a little added pressure.

His hands finally moved from his sides and grabbed my waist, and he began kissing me back so sweetly and in such an _Edward_ way. His lips moved almost timidly as he slowly spread his fingers along my hips.

Despite how tame the kiss was, I couldn't help the quiet moan that escaped my mouth when he sucked on my upper lip. I realize that I was beginning to lose focus of my initial goal, so I pulled away and leaned my forehead back on his.

After a few seconds he moved to kiss me again, but I tilted my chin down before he could make contact.

"Edward," I cleared my voice of its hoarseness, "how do you feel?" I kissed one corner of his mouth, and then the other, and then I stood on my toes and kissed both of his closed eyes. "Do you feel good enough?"

He bent forward and nuzzled my nose, and then inched his mouth forward the rest of the way and started kissing me again. His hands moved from my hips to my back, pulling us closer together. I'm fairly certain that I purred my approval. When he pulled away, he stayed so close that I could still feel his lips move when he spoke. "Yes."

_Yes, what? Did I ask him something? Oh, right!_

I opened my eyes to see his staring back, and smiled slightly, "Yeah? You promise?"

His lips curved up just a bit, too, and he bobbed his head against mine. "I promise."

"Good." I blew out a relieved breath. "None of what happened back then was your fault, Edward, and I am _not_ Tanya."

He nodded his agreement, and then his smile straightened out and he leaned forward so that he was towering over me slightly. He bent down and ran his nose from my chin to my ear and then kissed the spot on my neck right below it.

An involuntary shiver ran through me and I sighed and tugged gently on his hair.

He lifted his head and leaned far enough away to look into my eyes before he spoke. "Bella, kissing you makes me feel…" he trailed off and tried again, "I could never feel anything less than perfect being with you."

I shuddered at his ridiculously sweet words and pushed forward until our lips were touching again.

He responded instantly, deliberately walking us backward until my back made contact with the wall and then pressed his body against mine fully.

This kiss held just as much feeling as the ones before, but in a matter of seconds it became more heated. I opened my mouth and lightly licked his bottom lip, causing his breath to hitch and his arms to tighten around my back.

I realized that I probably could have continued this all night, but after a short while I pulled back, setting my head on his shoulder. He took this as an opportunity to kiss down my neck and I felt like I was going to explode from sensation overload.

"Edward…"I tapped the back of his head where my hands were located.

He continued kissing my neck, but offered "Hmm?" in response.

"I, um…you should…" I groaned. "Edward, I can't _think_ when you're doing that."

He chuckled and stood up straight. "Sorry."

I shook my head and smiled. "See? There it is again. The look. I think I would define it as 'smug'."

"You'd be smug, too, if you were me right now."

I laughed and hoped he couldn't see my blush in the dim light.

"It's getting late. I should probably get going," he whispered, lowering his head into my neck again and hugging me.

"Yeah," I swallowed. "I'm sure you have a lot to do tomorrow to get ready for school on Monday."

I could feel his day-old scruff as he nodded. "I do, yes."

After a full minute had passed, he still hadn't made a move to leave, so I lowered my hands to his chest and lightly pushed him away. "Edward, you have to leave at some point."

He pouted, and I smiled at his cuteness.

"We'll see each other soon," I bargained.

"Not tomorrow, though," he said, still pouting. "I've got errands and meetings all day."

"Monday, then."

His pout finally gave way to a smile and he nodded. "Okay."

I stepped forward and kissed him but kept it short and quick, knowing that if I didn't we'd have to start this all over again. When I pulled away, we walked to my door and said goodbye to each other.

Before I closed the door, I thought I heard him mutter something about football and zoning on the way to his car.

_Weird._

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><p><strong>AN: **Circle the "yes" if you liked it, the "no" if you didn't, or the "not sure" if you don't know and then send it back. ;)

Seriously though, are you surprised? I've hinted, but maybe you were expecting something different? Let me know your thoughts, friends!

P.S. I own a white Pontiac Aztek (though I've never caused a serious car accident), I _did_ used to think "volley ball" was called "bolley ball", but I was much younger than Bella when I realized that I was wrong, and my sister does, in fact, find Lil Wayne sexy because of his dreads. IDGI. Also, my niece is almost 6 and still to this day calls McDonalds "chicken donalds". It's probably because she only ever gets chicken nuggets.


	13. School Lunches and Car Troubles

**A/N**: Oh hi, everyone. *shifty eyes* Alright, alright! I'm sorry. I know I suck at updating. I'll even go as far as to admit to you that it might not get much better right away. At least I'm honest?

Thanks to **rosellebec** for prereading these words that I write and for offering to nag at me when I take too long. :)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

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><p><strong>Chapter 13 – School Lunches and Car Troubles<strong>

**Edward **

Even though today was the first day back at school, I could not have been more pumped.

I spent the entire first half of yesterday avoiding my cell phone, because I knew that if it was anywhere near me I wouldn't be able to resist calling Bella, and I knew that hearing her voice would tempt me to blow off everything I had to do to go see her, which was not an option. I was already way behind as it was.

As it turned out, however, when I finally allowed myself to call her, I could not for the life of me find my cell phone. I spent an hour looking for it, even mentally retracing my steps, only to come to the conclusion that I must have left it at the house of the very person I was yearning to call.

To add to this unfortunate event, by the time I figured that out, it was way too late to go get it. To say that I was bummed would be an extreme understatement, and I also worried that Bella might think I was avoiding talking to her. Maybe she found the phone and connected the dots. Either way, I was really regretting my choice to forego a land-line, that's for sure.

But today…today I was excited and gearing up to start the day. I planned to find Jasper right when I got to school and use his phone to call Bella.

Walking through the main doors, I could feel the general excitement filling the hallways. Elementary school kids are young enough that the first day of school still holds some enjoyment for them.

On my way to Jasper's room, I got stopped by a few of my old students, talking excitedly about their summers and telling me who their new teacher is. I tried to stay focused on what they were saying, but it was very difficult considering I was only 100 feet away from being able to talk to Bella.

Once they moved on, I'm pretty sure I skipped through the threshold of his classroom.

"Mr. Cullen! How nice to see you barging into my class already." Jasper looked up from where he was currently feeding breakfast to one of his students, Aaron, and smirked.

"Mr. Whitlock," I tipped my head to him. I walked over to where they were sitting and bent down. "Good morning, Aaron. We missed you last weekend at baseball. What, you have more important things to do, now?"

He smiled and pointed to the picture of a doctor on his computer screen.

Aaron is a little boy that plays on our team. He's nonverbal and sits in a wheelchair, but he has limited motor function in his arms so he uses a computer screen to type out short words or to point to common pictures to tell us what he wants.

"Ah, I see. Well, tell your doctor that we need our most valuable player free on game days." I winked and squeezed his hand.

Jasper finished feeding him and then set him up in a beanbag chair to watch cartoons until class began. "So, what can I do you for, my friend?"

"I was actually wondering if I could use your cell. I left mine at Bella's Saturday night and I want to call her."

He grabbed his cell phone out of his top desk drawer and held it in his hand. "Sure. But first, tell me how it went on Saturday."

I shuffled my feet nervously. "It went…well." I tried to look away to hide my smile, but he caught it anyway.

He whistled lowly and slapped my back. "How well?"

I gave him a Readers Digest version of the whole day, starting with the mess in the beginning and ending with us kissing.

_Us kissing._

Every time I even thought those words, I couldn't help but replay the whole scene in my head. I never in a million years would have imagined the night ending like that.

The day itself wound up being one of the most fun, entertaining days I'd had in a long time. Getting to know Bella more and learning so many silly little details about her life made me so happy. I had to actively remind myself to stop smiling every so often.

Then Tanya called, and for some infuriating reason my mood promptly turned to shit. I thought the fun was over and tried to leave, but somehow, in a way only she could, Bella talked me through it. I started out feeling more insecure than ever, and ended up leaving the most confident I've felt in three years.

And then those kisses…I've never felt anything as intensely as I did when we kissed. The smell of her hair, the way she felt underneath my hands, her lips on mine…all of those things combined was almost too much for me. I kept waiting for the rush of emotions and adrenaline to level off, but it didn't. Not until I left, at least, and even then all I had to do was think about her and they would instantly return.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and I realized that I had basically just zoned out for a good minute after telling Jasper that we kissed.

_Let's not make it _too_ obvious what you're thinking about, Edward._

I smiled apologetically and he chuckled.

"Well, I'm happy for you, man. She's seems to be good for you." He handed me his phone and I thanked him and walked into the corner of the room where no one else was. Then I dialed her number and waited for her to answer.

"Hello?" she answered, sounding a little confused.

Hearing her voice felt like Christmas morning. "Hey. It's me."

I heard her sigh contently into the phone. "Oh, hey Edward. Why are you calling me from Jasper's phone?"

My brows furrowed. "How did you know this was his phone?"

"I called him the other day, remember?"

"Oh, right…okay. Well, the reason I'm calling from his phone is because I think I left mine at your house. I couldn't find it, or else I would've called you yesterday."

"_That's_ what the annoying buzzing sound coming from the living room was!" I heard some movement and then she yelled, "Aha! It was in between the couch cushions. Oh, hey, your mom called."

I laughed. "Thanks. I'll make sure to call and see what she wanted."

"Or I could just text her and say that you were too busy thinking about your favorite person, Bella, to talk to her." It was obvious that she was smiling as she spoke.

"Pathetically, she probably wouldn't find anything suspicious about that." _Why are you telling her this? You're going to scare her away._

She waited a second before she responded, but then she spoke softly, "I'm glad you called. I was thinking about you."

_Kill me now._ "Yeah?"

"Uh-huh." There was a moment where neither of us said anything, and then she sighed. "So…about your phone, do you want me to bring it up to you? I'd have the kids with me, though, so if that's not okay–"

"Of course that's okay, Bella. I'd love for you guys to bring it up to me, but what about the bookstore? Don't you work on Mondays?"

"Usually, yeah, but the kids' daycare is closed today for back-to-school reasons, and Em and Rose are visiting a fertility clinic in Seattle, so my days are all switched around. Em's gonna watch them tomorrow for me, because on–" She stopped herself short and laughed nervously. "Anyway, so…yeah, I work tomorrow instead."

_That's strange. What didn't she want me to know?_

"Um…okay. Well then, if it's not too much trouble, I'd love to meet you guys for lunch. My break's from 11:45-1:00. Is that okay?"

"Sounds perfect. We'll see you then. I'll bring lunch."

I said goodbye and stood there smiling at the fact that I would get to see them so soon. Then I heard Jasper mock-gagging on the other side of the room. I subtly flipped him off and headed to my own room to get things ready before the bell.

…

It was nice finding my routine again and getting to know the new batch of kids I had this year, but that anxious feeling still hadn't gone away. I had a feeling that it probably wouldn't until an adorable brunette and her children showed up.

When it finally came time to send my students off to lunch, I rushed to the front of the building so that I could be there the moment my guests arrived.

At exactly 11:45, I saw her car pull in and I began walking over to where she was parked. I had to remind myself to chill out and give her a little room to breathe, but that didn't stop me from opening her door once she turned off her car.

She smiled up at me and climbed out, and I scooted back only enough so that she could stand.

"Hey." I smiled and grabbed her hands in mine.

"Hi."

I began to lean down to kiss her, but just before I made it to her lips I was interrupted by Brady and Lola yelling "Hi, Ehwood!" from the back seat.

Bella and I both chuckled, and I regretfully took a step back before walking around to get Brady out while she got Lola. We all walked into the school and toward my classroom while the twins chatted aimlessly, telling me about their morning so far.

Unfortunately, we got stopped in the hallway by one of my female coworkers before we made it to my room.

"Oh my, Edward, who are these little cuties?" Jessica placed her hand on my bicep and smiled. In the past she's had a tendency to be a little too…_friendly_ with me, so I hoped she would behave today.

I turned my head slightly towards Bella so only she could see me roll my eyes. She smiled, but made it seem like it was in greeting to Jessica.

I discreetly shrugged off her hand before I spoke. "Hey, Jessica. This is Brady and Lola, and this is their mother, Bella." I put my hand on Bella's lower back in place of what I really wanted to do, which was to add 'my girlfriend' to the end of that sentence. _Probably too soon._

Jessica forced a polite smile and scooted closer to my side. "Hello, Bella. You look very familiar. Are you Edward's sister?"

_Yeah, because _that's_ the vibe we're giving off right now._

"Nope, not his sister," she responded casually, obviously catching on to Jessica's game and choosing not to play it. "And you look familiar, too. I think you may have been in my older brother's year. Emmett Swan?"

"Oh, my God, that's right. _Emmett Swan_. Wow." Her eyes became wistful for a second before she recovered. "So you're the little girl who would always come to his games, then?" It was obvious she was doing the math in her head for how old Bella was, and then she eyed the twins in poorly-concealed surprise.

If it bothered Bella at all, she didn't show it. "That'd be me."

"Wow, okay. That's great. Well, your children are adorable." She quirked up her eyebrow when she said 'your children', as if it were a question. "Tell Emmett I said hi?"

"Sure. It was nice meeting you," Bella responded, and you couldn't even tell she was lying.

"You, too, honey," she replied condescendingly, and then turned to me. "I'll see you around, Eddie."

I tried not to openly cringe at the name. She walked away and we continued into my classroom.

Bella was being quiet, and I hoped it wasn't because she was offended by Jessica's behavior. To my surprise, however, when I shut the door to my room she started giggling.

_Not the reaction I was expecting, but I'll take it._

"What's so funny?"

"That girl used to drive Emmett _crazy_. She would blatantly attempt to flirt with him, even after he told her that he had a girlfriend. She'd come to every game and most practices to just sit and watch him play."

I sighed and pulled the long desk away from the wall so we could all sit. "That does _not_ surprise me."

"Yeah. I can tell that she hasn't really changed her ways, _Eddie_." She smirked and sat Lola down in the chair I provided.

"That's the first time she's ever called me that, and I can't say that I enjoyed it," I responded, laughing. "I'm sorry she was…"

"Trying to pee on your leg?"

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah…that."

"Dats sicknast, Ma." Brady scrunched up his face and Lola giggled at him. "You say we only pee in da potty."

"You're very right, Brady-bug. I was just joking with Edward." She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Oh." He accepted her explanation and began eating the food she set in front of him.

She looked at me and shook her head. "He can preach it, but I'm _still_ Lysol-ing the bathroom every other day because of him. I mean, obviously I have no personal experience to refer to, but I can't believe that aiming is as hard as he makes it seem."

I pulled up two more chairs across from each other for Bella and myself and then we sat down as well. "Well, I don't really remember my personal experience on the matter, but I currently have no issues in that area, so at least we know that he'll grow out of it someday," I said, shrugging.

"Not exactly encouraging, Edward."

"Sorry." I chuckled. "Thanks for bringing up my phone and lunch, by the way. You really didn't have to do this."

"Oh, right! Your phone." She started digging through her purse while she continued talking. "And seriously, it's no problem. I'm glad we got to see you."

I took it from her outstretched hand and tried not to seem too happy at her confession.

"Oh, and your mom called again shortly after we talked this morning. I hope you don't mind, but I answered it and told her that you left it at my place so she wouldn't worry."

I faked outrage. "Did you go through my pictures and call history, too?"

"No!" She paused, and then a small smile started to make its way onto her face. "Lola, however, was very curious and insisted on showing me your wallpaper pic. Very cute."

I smiled, not ashamed at all that the background picture on my phone is of me and the kids making goofy faces. We took it the day I watched them at Bella's house.

She tilted her head down shyly and then looked around the room. "Being in this classroom is bringing back some unwanted memories from when I went here."

"Oh yeah, that's right. I keep forgetting that you grew up in Forks."

She nodded. "Yup. You know that curb out front where parents pick their kids up? Mike Newton tried to kiss me there when we were in 2nd grade and I pushed him off of it. He sprained his ankle and I was forced to apologize."

I laughed. "Poor kid. He was probably in love with you since the first time he saw you and when he finally tried to express himself, he ended up with a sprained ankle and a half-assed apology."

She scoffed and shook her head. "Yeah, right. The ankle didn't even faze him. He and his friends continued to bug me all the way into high school. Jake hated them because of it."

"What do you mean?"

"They had this little game, where they would constantly fight with each other over who would ask me out or offer to walk me to class or whatever. I never knew what to say and it was always super uncomfortable. They even got other boys in on the joke, and by 10th grade I would have to awkwardly turn down about 7 guys every time there was a school dance or event coming up."

_Oh, Bella. So unaware of her effect on people._

"Bella...I sincerely doubt that it was a game for them."

She looked a little confused. "Why else would they do it, then? I'm not kidding, Edward. Every single day it'd be something."

"I'm not saying that you aren't telling the truth; I'm saying that they probably did it because they actually really liked you." I smirked at her unconvinced expression. "You're a very likable person, missy."

She rolled her eyes and tried not to smile. "Well, whatever. Even if that was the case, I never liked being the center of attention. What were you like in high school?"

I cleared my throat. "Um…you know, just normal, I guess."

"Normal how?" She eyed me suspiciously.

I sighed and slumped my shoulders. "I was pretty nerdy. I was in band and read comic books and got good grades. I wasn't, like, picked on or anything like that, but I sort of kept to myself. I've come out of my shell quite a bit since then."

"Aw, you were a shy little Edward, huh? I bet you still read comic books, don't you?"

"That's completely irrelevant."

She giggled. "If you were to get a superhero tattooed on you, who would it be?"

"First of all, I would never in my right mind get a superhero tattooed on me, and second of all…Spiderman."

"I like him!" exclaimed Brady. "I'mma be a spida when I grow up."

"I don't like spidas, Brady-bug. I smash 'em wif my shoes," said Lola, stomping her foot on the ground in demonstration.

"Not me, 'cause you love me".

Lola huffed. "_Fine_."

"Phew!" Bella interjected dramatically. "Good thing we got that all figured out. I certainly would never want to see the day where my human daughter smashes my spider son."

The twins giggled and went back to ignoring us while they ate.

"Speaking of tattoos…" I ignored my nerves and reached for Bella's hands, turning them over and lightly tapping the embedded ink. "When did you decide to get these?"

Her eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment while she stared at my hands, but I couldn't tell if it was because she was remembering the day she got them or because she was experiencing the same sensation that I felt when I touched her this way.

"Bella?" Her head jerked up and a small blush filled her cheeks. _Yes! _

"Sorry. Uh…well, I don't really know how to explain it. I've always kind of loved the permanence of tattoos and what they could represent, but up until the twins were born I never really had anything that felt important enough to get tattooed on me forever. When they got here, it seemed like the perfect way to keep them close to me, even when I couldn't be with them physically." She shrugged and shook her head. "I know it sounds stupid."

"No, not at all. I love them. They're very…_you_."

I smiled and looked back up at her. When we locked eyes, I wanted to curse all the things that were currently preventing me from kissing her in that moment, especially the stupid table between us. The urge to walk around it, set my hands on her jaw, and pull her lips to mine was so strong that I almost groaned in frustration.

Instead, I settled for flipping her palms over and bringing her knuckles to my mouth to kiss. My fingers were still settled on the underside of her wrist and I could feel her pulse speed up almost instantly.

When I set her hands back down on the table, she fidgeted in her seat and quietly muttered, "Stupid freakin' table."

I smirked.

After a few more minutes of small talk as we finished eating, the allotted time I had for lunch was coming to a close. We began cleaning up our messes just as the bell rang, signaling that recess was over and that the kids were heading back to class.

"Okay, well, we should get going," Bella said.

I pouted dramatically. "Aw, you're not gonna let me show off the twins to my students?"

She smiled adorably and glanced at the ground before answering me. "You, uh…you want to show them off?"

I didn't know why that would surprise her, but rather than question it, I just nodded eagerly and said, "Duh."

She chuckled and granted me permission, so she, Brady, and Lola stayed by my desk while the kids started trickling in and headed to their seats. Once everyone was sitting and staring curiously at our guests, I cleared my throat to quiet them down.

"Welcome back, guys. I hope your lunch and recess went well." I lifted the twins onto my chair. "I'd like you to meet some special guests of mine." I gestured to Bella first. "This is Ms. Swan."

"Hi." Bella waved to the kids and blushed when one of the boys mock-whispered "Whoa! She's hot!"

I gave him the eye and continued with the introductions. "And these guys are her kids and my very special friends, Brady and Lola."

The class excitedly greeted the kids, and Brady and Lola began dancing on my chair in anticipation to get down and play with them.

"They have to leave in a bit, but if you guys want to hang with them at the back stations for a few minutes, you may. Just remember that they're younger than you and you need to be good role models." I let the twins down so that they could head over to the other kids. "Oh, and everyone bring a book with you. If someone walks in, quiet down and pretend to read until they leave."

Everyone giggled and grabbed a book before heading to the stations. I turned to Bella and saw her smiling at me and shaking her head.

"Can you get in trouble for this?" she asked.

"Nah, I was just messing with them. I'm good friends with our principal. Plus, the only person likely to visit right now would be Jasper, anyway."

She laughed again and then surveyed the room. Her eyes ended on me and then narrowed. "You know, I'm pretty much living out my senior year fantasy right now."

"How so?"

"Well, I had a _huge_ crush on my lit teacher," she admitted, smirking.

I grinned. "Oh yeah? Do I remind you of him?"

"Absolutely," she nodded, stepping closer to me. "If we got you some sexy reading glasses and stuck a pen behind your ear, it'd be a spitting image."

I swallowed. "I could get glasses." _Who cares that I have 20/20 vision?_

She raised her eyebrow in thought, and then shook her head, inching even closer. "No, I like you like this. No need for the glasses," she said, placing her hand on my chest lightly. She crooked her pointer finger a bit so that it was tugging at my shirt pocket.

"Bella…" I found myself unconsciously leaning forward, despite the fact that any one of my students could turn and see us right now.

"Yes?" she whispered, staying put where she was. Then, right as I was about to close the distance, she took a huge step back, her face a picture of amused shock. "_Seriously_, Edward? What were you planning on doing just then, in your _classroom_?"

I groaned and ran my hands over my face, embarrassed. "I don't know!" I removed my hands and caught her sly grin. I pointed at her. "You, missy, are dangerous."

She stepped a little closer to me, but kept a respectable, we're-standing-in-front-of-children amount of space this time. "Sorry. That was mean."

"It was. You're going to have to make it up to me, now."

"Oh, yeah? And what would that entail?" she asked, smiling.

"I demand at _least_ an hour of phone time tonight. Either that or you'll have to tell me more about yourself in high school."

She pretended to sigh dramatically at my request. "I guess I could make time for you tonight." Then her face changed from playful to fearful and she bit her lip, eyeing my cell phone that was currently lying on my desk. "Um…hey, can you do me a favor?"

I was confused by her quick change in topics. "Of course. What do you need?"

"Can you _not_ listen to the voicemail on your phone? I left one the other day before I knew that you were alright and…" she trailed off nervously.

I was unable to stop the grin that overtook my face. "Hmm. And what does this voicemail say, exactly?"

She blew out a breath. "I don't even really remember. All I know is that I was pretty hysterical at that point, and it's probably really embarrassing."

"Well," I tapped my chin in mock-consideration, "you've got me curious now."

"Ugh, fine! Listen to it; just don't talk to me about it." She paused, angling her head a bit towards the kids and sighing. "I'm pretty sure my daughter just put an eraser in her mouth, so I'm gonna take that as my cue to get going and let you get back to work."

She smiled and stood on her tiptoes, kissing me quickly, and then pulled away and tapped lightly under my chin. I smiled back and couldn't resist bending down to kiss her one last time before she left.

"I'll talk to you tonight." She backed away and called the kids over to her. When they came, Bella gave Lola a stern look and placed her hand below her mouth, where Lola proceeded to spit out a bunny-shaped eraser.

_How did she even see that?_

I shook my head and chuckled, as I've noticed I do quite often when spending time with Bella and the kids, and then quieted the class down.

"Alright everyone, back to your seats, please. Ms. Swan and the kids have to leave, which means we need to get some actual school-stuff accomplished." Everyone groaned, and I laughed.

_It's only the first day of school and the groaning is already starting?_

Bella and the kids said their goodbyes, and then she turned and winked at me before walking out of the classroom.

I spent the rest of the school day with a huge grin on my face, anxious to go home and listen to the voicemail.

…

"_Edward, uh…it's Bella. I'm just…I'm starting to get worried because you were supposed to be here and you aren't yet and there's a car crash and…fuck…I don't know, I'm… I wish you would just get here so that I could stop freaking out and see that you're okay and that it wasn't you. I tried calling Jasper but he hasn't talked to you. Not that you talk to him every day or something…or maybe you do, I don't…whatever, that's not the point. The point is that…I want to hear your voice, so please…_please_ call me back, or…get here. I just need to know you're okay."_

I'd listened to Bella's voicemail 3 times now, and each time I couldn't get over how upset and…desperate she was just to know that I was alright. It was incredibly moving to me to know that she cared so much.

The first time I listened to it (10 minutes after Bella left, because I have no willpower), the urge to call her was overwhelming. I knew it was stupid, because I had just seen her, and obviously she knew that I was okay at this point, but I couldn't get the tone of her voice out of my head as she said _"I just need to know that you're okay."_

I was just about to replay it for a 4th time, when suddenly the temperature gauge on my dash started rapidly climbing toward the "H" and a bunch of red lights began beeping. I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the car, wondering what the hell was going on.

Unsure of what to do, I popped the hood and got out to take a look. The fact that I knew next to nothing about cars hindered my search for what was wrong, so with an irritated groan I shut the hood and got back in the car.

I called my mom to get the number of a shop that was close, declined when she offered to come help me, and then hung up and dialed the number of the mechanic.

A guy with a deep voice answered. "Sam's Auto Repair."

"Hello, my name's Edward Cullen. I was driving and my car randomly started to overheat. I think I may need a tow to your shop." I gave my dashboard a dirty look for good measure.

"Okay, no problem. Let me just get your location and then we can be there shortly."

I told him where I was and he said they'd about 15 minutes.

While I was waiting, I called Jasper to secure the ride that I knew I'd most likely need to work tomorrow. I explained my current predicament and he laughed, calling it karma for being so "disgustingly cheery" at school today. _Jerk._

After 10 minutes of waiting, a large blue tow truck pulled in front of my car and began backing up. I grabbed my stuff and got out to talk to the driver.

When he jumped out of the truck, my jaw dropped to the ground.

_Of course. Why _wouldn't_ Bella's ex-boyfriend be the tow truck driver?_

He quirked an eyebrow when he saw me. His facial expression gave away the fact that he was trying to remember where he'd seen me before, and I could tell the exact moment when he remembered, too, because his face smoothed out and he looked…seriously bummed.

I stepped forward and tipped my head in greeting. "Jacob, right? From the grocery store?" _And Bella's ex with whom she's had sex with?_

_Gah, Edward! Shut up with the cringe-worthy inner monologue!_

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Yup. Sorry…what was it again?" he asked, pointing to me.

"I'm Edward."

"Right, right. Now I remember." He looked around awkwardly and then gestured towards my car. "So…car trouble?"

"Yeah…I have no idea what went wrong. I don't really know much about car engines. Put the gas in and turn the car on is pretty much the extent of my knowledge."

He chuckled. "Okay. Just let me get it all hooked up and then we'll drive back to the shop. I'll take a look at it, but I don't think I'll have time to do much more than that tonight, so you might need to find a ride if it's not a simple fix."

"That's fine. Thanks for the help, man."

"Sure. You can wait in the truck if you want. It will only take me a minute."

I nodded and headed toward his truck, sighing once I shut the door.

_This is gonna be great._

…

He shut the hood loudly and turned in my direction. "Alright. Well, it looks like you have water leaking into your oil. It's actually been a common problem in this model."

"Thanks, Volvo," I said sarcastically, shaking my head.

"Yeah…so, anyway, I can work on this tomorrow and hopefully have it ready for you Wednesday morning. The parts might be a little pricey, though."

I groaned. "Great."

"Uh…did you want to call someone to come get you, then?" He seemed uncomfortable making conversation with me, but I wasn't sure why.

"Yeah, I guess I'll do that."

"Okay. I'll be in the office," he replied, and then quickly walked away.

It only took me about 3 seconds to decide who to call.

"It's a little early for our talk, dude. I assumed you meant after the twins went to bed."

"Unfortunately this is not a recreational call. Are you busy right now?"

"Depends," she said, humming thoughtfully, "if you're going to ask me to come feed your cat, then yes, I am busy."

I laughed at her random comment. "What? Why would I ask you to do that? Especially considering I don't even have a cat, which you know because you've been to my house before."

"Those little creepers can hide, Edward. I was just making sure."

"You are extremely odd."

She giggled. "So are cats. Anyway, what's up?"

"I kind of need a ride. I had to get my car towed to the shop and they can't fix it until tomorrow."

"Jeez, that sucks. But sure, I'd be happy to come get you. Which place are you at?"

"Sam's Auto Repair. Do you know where it is?" She was silent for a while and I wondered if she didn't hear me. "Bella?"

"Sorry. Yeah, uh, I know where it is. Did…did you see Jake? I'm pretty sure he still works there."

_Oh! Duh, Edward. How could you forget that you're asking Bella to come pick you up at her ex-boyfriend's place of employment?_

I smacked my forehand. "Yeah…he's the one who towed me here, actually. Sorry, I wasn't really thinking about it when I called you and then you were talking about cats and I guess I forgot." I cleared my throat. "I can call someone else if it's weird. Really, it's not a big deal."

"No, no. It's not weird. I promise. We'll come get you."

I sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Does 15 minutes sound good?"

"See you then. Thanks, Bella. I appreciate it."

"My pleasure. I'm just relieved it wasn't a cat-related call."

I choked on a laugh. "Strange, strange woman you are."

She giggled again and then we said goodbye and hung up.

I pocketed my phone and turned around, only to be startled by Jacob, who was standing awkwardly in the entranceway of the shop.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Is uh…is Bells coming to pick you up?"

"Yeah, she's…yeah." I folded my hands together and nodded, not knowing what else to say. I idly wondered if he still had feelings for Bella. From the look on his face I'd say yes.

"Right. Okay, well, if you're all set then do you mind if I head out? I would normally stay and wait until someone gets here for you, but my dad called and he needs help with something, so…"

"Of course, that's fine. Don't worry about me. They should be here soon."

He quirked his head to the side and opened his mouth like he was going to ask something, but snapped it shut before anything came out, and then understanding washed over him. If I had to guess I'd say he was going to ask who else was coming before he remembered that Bella isn't a solo entity anymore.

He smiled slightly and nodded his head, and then made to walk past me to his car. Before he reached it, he turned around and spoke loud enough so that I could hear him. "Hey, I know it's not until Wednesday, but could you tell her 'happy birthday' for me?"

I tried to hide my shock at what he said, and spoke back, "Um…sure. Yeah, I'll do that."

He smiled in thanks and then got in his car and drove away.

It was then that I realized two things: One, Jacob was absolutely still hung up on Bella, and two, her birthday was in two days and I had some planning to do.

…

After waiting for about 10 more minutes (in which I had plenty of time to decide what I wanted to do with this newly acquired information), Bella's car pulled into the shop's parking lot and up to where I was waiting on the sidewalk.

"Hey hobo, you need a ride?" she asked, smiling out her window.

I chuckled and walked over to her. "Very funny." I braced my hands on the car and leaned down, kissing her softly. I pulled away slowly and then pecked her lips one more time before I stood up. "Hey."

She grinned. "Hey. Hop in, streetwalker."

I rolled my eyes and followed directions, and she took off toward my house. Once I was buckled, I turned toward the back seat. "Hey guys. Whatcha doin' back there?"

"Eatin' Cheez-Its," Brady replied, accidentally dropping some out of his mouth.

"More like spitting Cheese-Its all over my car," muttered Bella.

"Why yo car broked, Ehwood?"

"I'm not sure, Lola. Maybe it was mad at me for leaving it outside all the time."

She gave me a skeptical look and then shrugged. "You gotsta bring it in yo house, den."

Bella smiled at her daughters answer. "I'm not so sure it would fit in there, Lola-bug. Where would he put his bed, then?"

"Outside, Ma!" replied Brady eagerly, like he had the solution to everything.

"Ah." Bella nodded.

I turned back towards the front. "So, Bella…"

"So, Edward…" she mocked.

I scowled playfully at her. "I was wondering something."

She narrowed her eyes at me before returning them to the road. "Care to enlighten me on what that thing is?"

"Well, I was wondering if you were available this Wednesday night."

I decided that I wasn't going to tell Bella that I knew Wednesday was her birthday. Instead, I was going to ask her out on our first date and surprise her when I picked her up. That is, if she didn't already have plans. _Please don't have plans._

She looked confused for a moment, and you could tell that she was wondering if I knew somehow. "Why?"

"Well," I started, wiping my sweaty hands on my pants, "if you are available, I wanted to know if you'd like to go out with me. You know, like…on a date."

Her confused expression morphed in to a breathtaking smile. "A date?"

I instantly felt relieved by her reaction, and my confidence came through a little more. "Yes."

"Okay," she nodded. "I'd love to go out on a date with you."

"Great, I'll, uh…I'll pick you up at 6pm, then? Does that sound okay?"

She smiled again. "Perfect." We were just arriving to my house, so she pulled into the driveway and put the car in park. "Alright then, you owe me an even twenty for the ride. No checks, please." She winked and I shook my head and smiled at her lame joke.

I peeked into the back seat to see what the kids were doing, and was surprised to see that they were both sleeping. Bella did the same, and groaned.

"Awesome. Six o'clock naps. They'll be up until one in the morning."

I grinned. "I think it _is_ awesome, although that may be a little selfish of me."

"How is them sleeping right now awesome? I have to work tomorrow, remem –"

I cut her off by tilting my head down and covering her mouth with mine. It took her a second to respond, but when she did her hand came up and rested under my chin, stroking it gently and then following the path down my jawline.

I wished that we weren't in such a confined space. I wanted so badly to reach forward and set my hands on her hips, or pull her closer so that our bodies were touching, but the center console was preventing me from doing so.

After another minute of doing my new favorite thing, Bella pulled away and set her forehead against mine. We both stayed there for a few seconds, quietly trying to catch our breaths.

"Mmmm," she hummed, "I may understand the awesomeness, now." When I pulled away, she looked thoroughly dazed. _I did that to her! _

I smiled at her. "I'll talk to you later, Bella. Thanks for picking me up."

"You are very welcome, sir. Talk to you soon."

I climbed out of the car and watched her pull away, then went inside and spent the rest of the night planning what I wanted to do for our first date and her birthday.

_This is gonna be great._

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: I ask graciously for artistic license on the comment about Edward's car model having that problem a lot, because as far as I know it isn't true. However, the exact same thing happened to me 2 years ago…in the middle of winter. I had to pull over into a church parking lot and wait for my step-dad to come pick me up. I almost lost my life that day. #Lies

Again, I apologize for the wait, but I can't promise any specific update day. I'll try to make it quicker this time, though.

What did you think of the chapter? Edward's cute, isn't he? Next up is Bella's birthday! She has no idea what she's in for…


	14. Wakeup Calls and 23

**A/N**: You guise. You _guise_. *insert adorable KStew gif from Leno* I know I suck, and I'm not even gonna lie and say I that I spent every free minute I had trying to finish this. It was coming slowly, and I've been spending a lot of my break from school doing nothing and bonding with my nieces and nephews. Nonetheless, here it is and I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks to **rosellebec** for being a dope prereader. It was her birthday in December, so everyone tell her "happy birthday"!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14 – Wake-up Calls and 23<strong>

**Bella**

_Why am I so freakin' hot right now? And what in the hell is poking me in the back?_

Those were the first two thoughts that ran through my mind as I sluggishly switched from that blissfully pleasant state of dreamland to the even more blissfully pleasant state that was my reality right now. Well, not necessarily this exact moment of reality, because whatever it was that was sticking in my back most definitely did not feel pleasant. But in general, I didn't have a lot of complaints with the way my life was currently going.

There was a shift and then a low groan that came from behind me, and I couldn't help the smile that made its way onto my face as I pictured the person who I knew was there, snoozing happily.

Well, _persons_, if you counted the other happily snoozing individual cuddled up to my front, which of course I did.

_But freakin' A, dudes. Mama needs a little breathing room. I'm two degrees shy of melting._

I tried to wiggle my way onto my back, but whichever limb it was of Brady's that was pushing into my spine prevented the movement.

I cleared my throat. "Brady-bug, give Mama a little more room, baby."

"_Mrrrrrmf_," was his only response, but he did manage to flip over to his other side in the process.

I wasn't expecting much more from him, though. Both he and Lola tend to wake up at an ungodly hour, but my girl's always been much more of a morning person. Speaking of which…

I finally opened my eyes, unsurprised and yet still a little disturbed to see Lola's wide brown ones staring back at me, curious and bright.

"Mornin', Ma. Happy birday." Her smile that followed was equally as adorable as the brown nest of hair sitting on top of her head.

I couldn't help but to smile back. "Morning, sweetie. How'd you know it was my birthday today?"

She giggled and slithered under the covers instead of answering, which tipped me off to the fact that she knew something that she wasn't supposed to tell me.

"_Lola-bug_," whined Brady in his still-sleepy voice, "Grapaw says not to tell til he gets here!"

I turned toward him with a confused expression. "Gets here? Grandpa's coming over today?"

"Ha! I told you little man was gonna be the first to break, Pops."

I whipped my head in the direction of the booming male voice, only to see the grinning faces of my father, Emmett, and Alice standing in the doorway of my room.

_Oh, no. This can't mean good things for me._

"Um…what are you all doing here at," I checked the alarm clock next to my bed, "_7:30_ in the morning?"

"How lovely of you to ask, best friend." Alice walked over and sat on the end of my bed as I sat up and scooted back against the headboard. "We're here to take you guys to your birthday breakfast at the diner."

I rubbed my eyes and slid back down under the covers, groaning. "Birthday breakfast?"

"Oh, get over yourself, Bells. It's just breakfast, and Angela and Ben made you take the day off, so what's it really gonna hurt for you to spend a little time with us? Huh? Come on, munchkins, let's let Mommy get ready."

The twins scrambled out of bed and followed my dad into the hallway and down the stairs, and I tried to hide under the covers some more.

I heard Emmett chuckle. "What he said. Oh, and happy birthday, B."

I peeked out of the covers and mock-glared at my brother. "Thanks, Em."

He grinned and followed behind my dad, and then Alice yanked the blanket off of me and stood up.

"Now, quit acting like a 5 year old brat and get in the shower. We'll get the twins ready and meet you downstairs in exactly 30 minutes."

I sighed, but couldn't help the smile that made its way on my face as Alice left the room. Despite my aversion to attention being put on me, I couldn't deny how great my friends and family are.

…

"I'll have the 3-egg omelet with tomatoes, ham, cheese, and _no_ onions, because that shiz is disgusting. I want both bacon _and_ sausage on the side, 4 slices of toast, and last but not least, three…nah, let's make it four pancakes."

Emmett smiled happily and folded up his menu, handing it to the waitress whose hand was moving as fast as it could to take down everything he said.

"Jesus, Emmett. Are you sure that's it? I don't want you to go hungry on my watch," my dad muttered sarcastically.

Emmett smiled cheekily and patted my dad's back. "No worries, Pops. If that's not enough I can always order more later."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled at my oaf of a brother. "You have no idea how nice it's been these last few years to live in a household where you don't eat all the food."

"And people ask how you always stayed so thin growing up…" Alice added, shaking her head and smiling.

"Aw, B, you know I'm a growing boy. And I've been over your house plenty of times without eating everything. I think those efforts deserve some appreciation."

Alice cleared her throat. "Speaking of being at your house…what time did you need me over there tonight? You know, since I'm watching the twins?"

I glared at her as she bit her lip to keep from smiling. _Subtle, Alice. _"Around 5:45. You know, the same time I told you _12 hours ago_. How strange that you forgot already."

"Oh…right. Silly me." She faked a laugh and looked away from my stare down.

_4…3…2…_

"What's going on tonight, Bells?"

_And _there_ it is…_

"It's nothing, Dad. I just needed a sitter for a few hours. No big deal."

He quirked his eyebrow and gave me a suspicious look. "Oh. Well how come you didn't ask me? And what do you need to do the night of your birthday?"

"She's going on a date with Edward!" Alice squealed and bounced in her seat.

"God, Alice, you are such a little snitch!" I picked up my napkin and threw it at her. When it missed I reached across the table and flicked her forehead.

"Ow! Sorry, jeez!" she replied, but her grin took away most of the sincerity of her words.

I sighed and slumped my shoulders, readying myself for the round of teasing from my Dad and brother that I knew would be coming any second.

"Bella's got a date, does she? My little sister's finally getting hers, huh?" He waggled his eyebrows up and down and I kicked him under the table for being such an idiot.

My dad cringed. "Shut your trap, boy. One more word about Bella getting anything and you're paying for everyone's food."

Emmett huffed and I grinned and stuck my tongue out at him, relieved that my dad wasn't going to grill me about tonight. My relief was short-lived, though.

"Now, Bells…what do I need to know about this? Are you guys an item now?"

_An 'item'? Who says that anymore?_

"Ugh, no, Dad. Or…I'm not sure. It's new, okay? We just…I mean, this is the first…we only…" I stumbled over my words, not knowing how to explain our situation without divulging too much.

But of course I didn't need to worry about that since Alice was right next to me, willing to spew unnecessary information at inappropriate times. "They've kissed! More than once!"

I smacked my forehead in exasperation. "_Al_-_ice_! I swear to God I'm going to tape your mouth shut."

The twins giggled at my theatrics and Emmett held his hand to high-five Alice. She obliged him and gave me a sympathetic look. "Sorry, but…this is just so exciting, Bella! You can't expect me to keep this to myself!"

"I did, actually. That's kind of what I was going for when I said the '…but don't tell anyone else, yet' part of the story."

"Ma, I gotsta go potty," interrupted Lola.

I rolled my eyes at Alice's scrunched up nose and pouting lower lip and then stood up to help Lola out of her chair. "Okay, bug, let's go. You guys better get the teasing out of your system before I get back. Or else."

Emmett snorted at my non-threat. "Or else, what, B? You'll _not_ tell us about the next time you and park-boy make-out?"

"I would just like to say that I called this way back when I was in the hospital, so I think that gives me dibs on being the first to try and scare him away." The fact that my dad looked completely serious when he said that was a little worrisome.

"Come on, Lola. Let's give the boys and Alice some time to be annoying without us."

"Mmkay."

We walked to the bathroom and after helping her, I sat her on the sink so she could wash her hands.

"Are you excited that Aunt Ally's coming over tonight to play with you guys?" I asked as she scrubbed her hands and shoved them under the water.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yup. You gonna play, too?"

"Not tonight, baby. Tonight Mama's gonna spend some time with Edward while Aunt Ally comes over to play. Is that okay with you?"

I knew it was stupid, but I had been irrationally worried about what Brady and Lola would think of this whole thing since the first night we kissed. Their approval is always the most important thing to me when it comes to things like this.

"You an' Ehwood?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah. Me and Edward."

She hummed thoughtfully. "Okay. Can you get me an' Brady-bug some ice-cream, den?"

I chuckled at her simplistic acceptance. "Sure. I'll see what we can do."

When we were finished in the bathroom, we returned to the table right as our food was arriving. That wasn't the most important thing I noticed, though.

"Emmett, what are you doing with my phone?"

Everyone at the table, excluding Brady, jumped at the sound of my voice. Emmett's eyes widened drastically, although his still-there smile gave away that he was somewhat happy to be caught. "Oh, it was nothing, _Edward_. Don't worry about it. Now–"

"_What_?" I lunged for my phone and he held it up and to the side so that I couldn't reach it. "Why the hell are you talking to Edward? Give me my phone you stupid little bastar –"

"Isabella Marie, watch your mouth." He gave me his stern face, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh at the situation. The twins were focused on their pancakes, anyway.

"Dad, he's violating my privacy!" I attempted to snatch it from him again but he moved too quickly. "Give it to me, Em! You're such an effing bully sometimes. I'm telling Rose that it was you who ran over her flowers now!"

"Hey! That's not fair. It rang while you were in the bathroom, so I was just being a helpful person and answering it for you. How is it my fault that it was park-boy?"

"Well then give it to me!"

"Chill out! I'm almost done talking to him." He put the phone back to his ear and I dropped into my seat dramatically, scowling. "Anyway, I'm just wondering what you have planned for my little sister tonight. Don't you think it's a little ambitious to have a first date on her –"

I grabbed the phone from him before he could say the word and held my palm over the receiver. "Shut it, Em! He doesn't know it's my birthday. I didn't tell him."

"Why not?" he asked. "Does he think you're older than you are or something?"

I growled at him and walked far enough away from the table so that they wouldn't be able to hear me talking and so that Edward wouldn't be able to hear their obnoxious cat-calls, and then I sighed and held the phone to my ear. "You're having second thoughts about tonight, aren't you?" I was only half-joking at this point.

I could hear his chuckle through the earpiece. "I have no idea what's going on, but I can assure you that the answer to that is 'no'."

I looked over to our table to make sure the twins weren't looking and flicked off Emmett, who put his hand to his heart in response. "It was nothing. Just my brother and company trying to get me to disown them again. Sometimes they bring out the worst in me."

"You're with your family?"

I furrowed my brows. "Yeah, and Alice. Why?"

"Nothing, I just thought you worked on Wednesdays."

_Oh, shit! _"Um…yeah, no, I do…usually." I paused, trying to think of a story that could work. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell him about my birthday – although it kind of was – but it was also because I didn't want him to feel bad about not knowing and have to change our date or something. "My days are still all funky this week because of school starting and having Monday off." Not a great cover, but it was simple enough to sound convincing.

"Gotcha." He sounded smug as he said it, which seemed a little strange, but I didn't dwell on it. "Well, anyway, I was just calling to make sure we were still good for 6 tonight?"

I couldn't help but smile at the reminder. "Yes, we are absolutely still good for 6."

"Great. Am I going to be seeing you at your best or your worst?" he asked, referencing my earlier comment.

I giggled. "Meh, maybe a little in between. I guess it depends on how much longer I'll be spending with these dorks."

"Well, even if it's at your worst, I'm wholeheartedly looking forward to seeing you."

_Freaking A, he's perfect. _"Same here. I'll try to ditch them soon, though."

He chuckled again. "Oh, you know you wouldn't want them any other way. I'll see you tonight at 6, then. Dress casually."

"Okay. Bye."

I hung up and hesitantly walked back over to the table filled with faces eager for a story. "I hate you all. Except you, bugs. We're cool."

…

"Come _on_. Do _not_ wear the chucks. Please, for me."

"He said to dress _casually_, Ally. These are casual." I lifted up my foot and wiggled it by her to be annoying.

She playfully smacked it away. "Everyone knows that first-date casual is different than everyday casual. Just wear flats. That's all I'm asking."

The doorbell rang and I smiled, knowing that she didn't have time to persuade me further. "Saved by the bell. Okay, bugs, come give me a kiss before I leave, please."

Brady and Lola ran over from where they were playing king-and-queen dress-up and wrapped their arms around my legs. I bent down and gave them each a kiss and then stepped back, curtseying dramatically.

"Sir King," I said, nodding my head and donning a horrible English accent. "M'lady. I do bid thee a kind farewell. Remembereth to tell Madam Aunt Alice when thou have to go pottyeth. If thy mother has to cleaneth the carpets one more time, I daresay she will go mad. And be good…eth." I might have sounded like a moron, but they giggled and that was all that mattered. "Okay, I love you guys. Thank you so much, Alice. I have no idea how late we'll be, so don't wait up." I walked over to her and kissed her cheek before hurrying into the hall

"You're welcome," she yelled into the hallway, sticking her head out of the playroom, "and text me if you're not planning on coming back tonight. You know, just in case."

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to her. "Excuse me?"

The little hussy just grinned and winked, and then went back into the playroom.

Before I could think that comment over more, the doorbell rang again, so I pushed the thought out of my head and rushed to the front door, swinging it open hastily.

"Ah!" Edward and I both jumped and yelled at the same time. Him, I'm guessing, because he wasn't expecting the door to open just yet, and me, because all I could see was the lower half of his body and a gazillion balloons.

I tried to peer around all the color to see what was going on, but the balloons took up too much space. "Uh…Edward? That's you, right?"

I heard him sigh and then the balloons moved a little. "Yeah. I really didn't think this part through very carefully. Could I…?" In my periphery I saw his finger point into the house.

"Oh…yes, of course! Come in."

He pushed his way through the doorway and then abruptly let go of all of the balloons, allowing them to scatter across the ceiling. Once his face was no longer obstructed by colored latex, he smirked and stepped closer to me, grabbing my hands and kissing my cheek. "Happy birthday, missy."

I gave him a look of confusion. "Thank you. Who told you that today was my birthday?" _So much for the secrecy._

"Not the person who should have…" he hedged, narrowing his eyes at me.

I hung my head in guilt. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to bring it up, and I really wanted to spend tonight with you and I thought that if I told you it'd be weird or something, so I just…didn't."

He smiled and nodded. "I forgive you. And Jacob says 'happy birthday', by the way." He seemed to be watching closely to how I reacted to the news that Jacob told him, but I wasn't sure why.

"Oh…okay." I said, nodding in understanding, and then turned my attention back to the balloons. "Not that the twins won't go crazy over them…but what's with the balloons?"

He grinned hugely. "There are exactly 23 of them. Well, I might have lost one in the struggle to get them out of my car, but we're just gonna say 23 for the sake of the theme."

My jaw dropped. "The theme? And you fit 23 helium balloons in your car?"

"Yup. And because it's your 23rd birthday, the theme of tonight is 23. Are you ready to go?"

"Edward, tonight does _not_ have to be about my birthday. We can just –"

He gently put his finger over my mouth, effectively shutting me up. "Shush, birthday girl. _Are you ready to go_?"

I tried to hide my smile when he removed his finger. "Yes. And you're lucky you're cute or I would've bitten you." I opened the front door and then yelled back inside. "Bye, guys. I love you! Edward brought balloons!" We heard the beginning of the stampede right as I slammed the door closed. "I'd let you say 'hey' to them, but then we'd never leave."

"I'll make sure to spend some time with them the next time I'm around."

Once we were in his car and on our way, Edward informed me that during the ride I had the choice to either ask or receive 23 questions. I chose to split them, so he started with the first one.

"If you were an animal, what kind would you be and, as that animal, which instrument would you play?"

"That's easy. I'd be an otter and I'd play the xylophone like a boss. My turn. If for some reason you were naked in front of a huge crowd of people and all you had was one hand to cover up with, which body part would you cover up…and why?" I quirked my eyebrow up.

He took no time to think about it. "If I was already naked, there'd be no real reason to cover up at that point, so I'd put my hand behind my head and pose. Maybe use it to blow kisses. Make the best of it, you know?"

He grinned and I couldn't help but laugh at his ridiculous answer to my ridiculous question. "Makes sense. Good to know you're confident."

"Am I allowed to throw that question back at you? I'm interested in _your_ answer."

"That's fair. I'd cover up my face so no one would know who the naked body belonged to."

He nodded and chuckled. "Very clever. Although I doubt you'd have anything to be embarrassed…" he trailed off and I'm fairly sure I saw tinges of red fill his cheeks. "You know what? We should avoid naked questions so soon in the game."

"Well that's no fun," I said, pouting playfully. "But fine. I actually have a real question I want to ask you, anyway." He nodded his acceptance. "I feel really stupid for even bringing this up, but…I don't know. It's…"

"What, Bella?"

I looked down at my lap in embarrassment. "It's just…you know that this…us…whatever we are, it's not going to be able to be like a normal, run-of-the-mill thing, right?" I paused, but continued before he could answer. "That's just not a plausible option for me anymore, and I'd like to say that I wish it could be, but that'd be a lie. Brady and Lola are literally my _whole_ life, and I can't and won't ever put them second in order to have a 'normal' relationship. So...I guess my question is, is that okay with you? Because I would understand if it wasn't. Honestly, I would."

As I spoke those lasts words, everything in me was fighting against them.

Edward took a deep breath, and before I knew what he was doing, he pulled over onto the side of the road and turned his entire body towards me. His expression was no longer the lighthearted, easy one that it was earlier, but one of determination and resolve.

"Bella, I may not have met you before the twins were born, but I seriously doubt we'd have a normal, run-of-the-mill relationship even if I had. I mean, the first time I met you, you were hanging upside down on some monkey bars." He grinned and I chuckled. "But seriously, I hear what you're saying, and I promise you…that's never going to be an issue here. You're an incredible mother, and I knew that from day one, and it's one of my favorite things about you."

It took a moment for me to break away from his sweet words and actually react outwardly, and even when I did it was just opening my mouth and then closing it.

He smiled at my lack of response and leaned over the center console, running his middle finger from my cheek to the back of my neck and then dipping down to kiss me.

It was the first kiss we'd had since that first time where we were alone and really able to get lost in each other. He started off slow, with soft, gentle movements, and then he shifted so that he was slightly closer, and I felt the tip of his tongue run against my bottom lip. I opened my mouth, and the feel of his tongue against mine made me clutch the front of his shirt tightly in my fists.

After a while, I was having a hard time restraining myself from hopping over the console and straddling him, so instead I maneuvered my body so that I was sitting on my knees, giving me more leverage and the ability to use my upper weight to deepen the kiss. One of my hands went to his shoulder and the other slid into his hair. He hummed in response, and I instinctively tugged a little.

He pulled back abruptly, but kept his forehead against mine. "_Jesus, _Bella."

"What?" I asked breathily, winded from our kiss.

He chuckled darkly. "That thing, with your hand…you've done it before, where you kind of pull. I can't…"

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." _I just have an unhealthy obsession with your hair that I can't control… _

He shook his head minutely. "No, it's…good. I, uh…like it. A lot. I've never…no one's ever…" he trailed off, but reached up one of his hands and tugged on his hair to show me what he meant.

"Oh." Then I smiled mischievously. "_Oh_."

He reached up and poked the corner of my smile. "Don't give me that look, missy. Contrary to what it looks like, this isn't exactly what I had planned for tonight."

"Bummer." I smirked and then sat back into a normal position. Edward restarted the car and began driving again.

He cleared his throat. "So…back to questions?" I nodded. "Okay, well this one is actually a question that was asked by one of my students after you guys left the other day. It's not like _I_ want to know it or anything, but earlier you mentioned 'what we are', so it made me think of it."

"_Okay_…"

"Um…I believe their exact wording was 'Is she your girlfriend'?" He looked both playful and slightly shy as he asked.

I was somehow able to hold back the smile that was threatening to make its way onto my face when I answered. "Your student wanted to know that, huh?"

"I know, right? Kids these days have no concept of personal boundaries."

"Uh-huh. Well, in order to answer your student's question effectively, I'm going to have to use my next question first." He looked confused but nodded. "If you could have any person as a girlfriend right now, who would it be?"

He laughed at that before sobering up to answer. "Bella."

I smiled. "Is that your answer or are you addressing me?"

"My answer. I know it's a little weird that I call Isabel Lucas 'Bella', but I feel like if she were my girlfriend, that'd be my petname for her."

I giggled and smacked his arm, causing him to laugh. "You're such a jerk. You know what? Now I'm not going to answer your original question." I jokingly crossed my arms and turned to look out the window.

"Fine. Well then here's my next one: Bella," I scoffed at the name and he laughed, "_Swan_…Bella Swan, will you grant me the honor of calling you my girlfriend?"

I turned back to him and our grins matched. "I _guess_. But as your girlfriend, my first rule is that any movie containing Isabel Lucas must be removed from your house."

"Then I _guess_ I'll have to part with her. Jeez, I have such a demanding girlfriend," he muttered under his breath, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

…

Right as our 23 questions were up, Edward pulled into the parking lot of a small, scenic park outside of Forks and we had a low-key picnic to ourselves in the grass.

In an attempt that was almost overdone, Edward made everything about our date fit with his theme of 23. Not only were there the 23 balloons and the 23 questions on the car ride, but he also brought exactly 23 different food items for us to share during our picnic and somehow managed to fit 23 candles into a single cupcake and even lit them for me to blow out.

Once we were both full and the sun was starting to set, we headed off to the next surprise that Edward had planned. While in the car, I received a text.

_E – How are you enjoying our date so far? ;)_

I turned to him in surprise. "How did you do that while driving?"

"I prewrote it while you were eating so that all I had to do was push 'send'." He grinned at his cleverness. "That's text 1 of 23, by the way."

Instead of answering him out loud I decided to text him back.

_B – Best date ever. Also, you're a dork. :)_

At the first stoplight we hit, he quickly read the text and typed out a response.

_E – And there's still more to come…I'm not even going to address your other claim._

Our next destination was a costume shop, where Edward insisted we try on 23 different costumes, model them for each other, and then take pictures to show Brady and Lola tomorrow. The fact that he thought of the twins made me smile uncontrollably, which was a problem because my cheeks were starting to hurt from all the smiling I was already doing.

That part of the date was the most fun, and I had never laughed so much in a single setting. I tried on a few funny costumes, as well as a few sexy ones (that Edward really seemed to like, judging by his wide eyes and proceeding texts). Edward entertained me by dressing as a banana , DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba, and Ms. Pac Man, but my favorite was when he dressed as Spiderman. _Edward in a tight, spandex costume is an Edward I like._

After the costume shop, Edward took me to a quaint little ice cream place, where he made us sample 23 different flavors and then pick our favorite. Mine ended up being Peanut Butter Caramel Wonder, and his was this weird watermelon flavored one, which was also good, but didn't even compare to my PBCW, as I now call it. The best part, however cheesy it was, was when he would feed me bites from his samples. I'd even let him give me bites of samples I knew I didn't like just because.

When we were done, I remembered that I told Lola I'd get her and Brady some, so I bought a scoop for each and then we got in the car to head home.

Throughout the night, Edward made good on his word and sent me a series of texts at random times. Some of them were compliments, and others were arbitrary thoughts or comments that made me laugh. Several of them included:

_E - I really like the way you did your hair tonight. _(curled into loose waves and pulled back in a messy ponytail)

_E - That lady's hair is a hot mess. _(in reference to the costume shop cashier who kept showing us pictures of her dogs)

_E - The way you sneeze is really cute. _(which caused a small argument, because no one sneezes cutely)

_E - Do you think my ass looked big in the Spidey costume? _(I replied with an emphatic "Hell no")

_E – I could totally take that guy. Right? _(in reference to a prick who gave him a dirty look while he was in the Ms. Pac Man costume. My response: "…")

_E - Brady and Lola are amazing little kids because of you. _(which triggered me to hug him for a solid minute, at least).

…

The ride home seemed to fly by, and when we pulled into my driveway I was sure the disappointment of the night being over was evident on my face. Before I could say anything, Edward hopped out and walked around to open my door, grabbing my hand and leading us to the front door.

Once there, Edward turned to me and just stared. At first I was confused, but then I saw his other hand moving in his pocket and then my phone beeped in what I assumed was the 23rd text of the night.

I smiled and opened the text to read.

_E – You're an incredibly good kisser._

I giggled and stepped closer to him, sliding my hands up his chest. "Are you trying to suggest something, mister?"

He wrapped his arms around my waist and shook his head. "Just being honest. If my text happens to persuade you to – "

I cut him off by closing the distance between us. Once our mouths were in synch, he slowly walked us backward so that I was pressed lightly against the door and he was pressed lightly against me.

I dragged my hands down his torso and forearms, finding his hands and interlacing our fingers while we continued to kiss.

After a few more moments, I pulled back and nuzzled my face into his neck, where I couldn't help but drop a few kisses. "I don't want you to leave," I whined.

He hummed lowly and kissed the side of my head. "I'll call you tomorrow, and we'll see each other soon."

I leaned away and pouted. "Okay."

"Goodnight, Bella," he said, and then kissed me one more time. "Happy 23rd birthday."

Once I got inside, I walked over to the living room where I assumed Alice would be sleeping. Smiling at my correct assumption, I sat down next to her and shook her shoulder to wake her up.

She groaned and opened her eyes. "Hey. What time is it?"

"Um…11? 11:30, maybe?"

She rolled her eyes. "Boooo. You're no fun."

I laughed at her dramatics and shook my head. "Oh, hush. Are you crashing here tonight?"

She rolled over and grumbled, so I took that as a yes and headed up to my room, replaying my night with Edward until I fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Do you hate me for the beginning because you thought it was Edward she was waking up to? *evil grin*

So...what'd you think? Again, I'm very sorry for the wait. I'm hoping now that school is starting back up, I'll be using this story as a distraction from doing real work, lol.

I dare you to leave me a review in made-up old English...

P.S. That question that Edward asks Bella about which animal she'd be and, as that animal, which instrument she'd play? I totally asked that to my favorite singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles during a Facebook Q&A, and her reply was similar to Bella's. :D


	15. Flooded Floors and Good News

**A/N**: New chapter! It's nice and long since I made you wait. Hope everyone is doing well.

Also, there's a quick message at the bottom, if you care. No biggie, but it's pretty long, which is why it's at the bottom. :)

Thanks to **rosellebec **for prereading even though she's sick. Feel better, hun!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15 – Flooded Floors and Good News<strong>

**Edward**

We slowly maneuvered from our sitting position on my couch to me supporting my weight over top of her, never once breaking the kiss.

While leaning on my left forearm, I threaded my right hand into her hair and gently lowered my body until we were touching, from feet to chests. Bella hummed her approval.

In the past 2 weeks since her birthday, our physical relationship hadn't progressed much from your standard make-out session. In fact, this was the first time that we'd taken things horizontal.

It wasn't for lack of want; it was just that we'd both been so busy and things kept coming up, so we hadn't been able to really see each other outside of a few lunch meets ups and spending an hour or so with the kids at her house.

First, our weekend plans after our date had to be cancelled because Brady and Lola came down with the stomach flu, which lasted until Monday morning. I offered to come over and help out, but she didn't want to risk me getting exposed and then handing the bug off to any of my students, which made perfect sense, but I was still bummed.

On top of that, someone at Bella's work up and quit, so Bella had to work the remaining four days of the week to cover, and _then_ Bella's mom decided to unexpectedly show up from Arizona on Friday afternoon and stay with them for a few days. The only positive aspect of that on my part was that she offered to watch the twins tonight so Bella could have dinner at my place and hang out for a bit.

Bella pulled me out of my thoughts when I felt her wiggle underneath me and then adjust her lower half so that my leg was between hers. I pulled away from her mouth to give us both a little air and instead sucked lightly on her neck. She moaned and arched off of the couch.

"Ed…" she cleared her throat. "Edward."

"Hmm?" I moved to the other side and kissed just below her ear.

She took in a sharp breath and tugged at my hair, which she'd been doing a lot of since my confession in the car two weeks ago. "I can't…it's…I have to go." I groaned and dropped my head into her neck. "I know, I'm sorry. I don't want to. I _really_ don't want to."

I lifted up to look at her. "No, it's fine. You did tell me that you had to leave 20 minutes ago. I made the choice to attack you knowing that you couldn't stay long." I smiled at her to let her know that everything was good.

"I didn't so much mind the attacking." She grinned and pulled my head down to nuzzle our noses. "I just feel like I need to be home before the twins go to bed."

I reluctantly moved off of her and we both adjusted into a sitting position. "You don't think your mom can handle putting them down?"

"No, it's not that. It's just…as much as I love my mom, and as good as she is with the kids, they don't really know her all that well, you know? With her living in Phoenix, we've only been able to spend a few prolonged time periods with her, and I wouldn't feel right letting them end their day with someone that they're not 100% comfortable with yet." She looked down and shook her head. "It's stupid, I know. I'm probably just over thinking it."

"No, I get it. That's not stupid." I tried to hide the smile that was threatening to escape over the fact that not too long ago Bella let the twins end their day with _me_.

_Yeah, because those circumstances were completely the same. It's not like her father was in the hospital or anything…_

I chose to ignore my inner thoughts and continue on. "Speaking of, I'm really starting to miss the little guys. I feel like I haven't spent any time with them recently."

Her face broke out into an adorable smile and she reached over and grabbed my hand. "Well, what about Saturday? Are you free? My mom's supposed to leave Friday morning, so I wouldn't have to worry about leaving her to fend for herself."

I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed it. "It's a date. Bright and early."

She rolled her eyes and moved to stand up. "Like I have a choice with two almost-3-year-olds in the house."

I stood up and walked her to the door. "Tell them I said 'goodnight' and that I can't wait to spend Saturday with them."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me goodbye. "I will. They'll be excited."

…

I was walking back to my classroom after lunch when my friend and the school's guidance counselor, Garrett, stopped me to talk.

"Hey, Edward. Can we chat for a second?"

"Sure. How's it going, man?"

"Everything's great, yeah. The adoption process is almost complete, so we're planning our first real family vacation for Christmas break." He smiled excitedly.

I tapped his back lightly. "That's awesome. I'm glad things are working out for you."

Garrett met his wife Kate a few years ago when he was leading a single-parent family retreat for his church and it was pretty much love at first site, according to him. Kate's daughter, Sarah, was two at the time, and right after they got married last summer, they began the process of making him her adoptive father. He's a great guy.

"Thanks. Anyway, I don't have much time before my meeting, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that Lilly Stafford's parents are getting divorced. Her mom asked me to tell her teachers in case she starts acting out, but she doesn't want to make it a big deal for Lilly's sake."

Lilly is a student of mine; shy, but really smart. "That's a shame, but thanks for letting me know. I'll make sure to be sensitive to the situation."

"I knew you would. Alright, I'll catch you later, then. Maybe we can meet up for dinner sometime?"

I rolled my eyes. As pure as his intentions were, he couldn't let his counselor conscious go sometimes. He could sense when I first started working here that I wasn't in the best place, and ever since he makes a point to invite me out every once in a while. "Yeah, sounds good. Maybe we can double date."

I couldn't help but smirk as he stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow. "You got a girl, now, Cullen?"

I nodded. "It's new but…she's amazing."

He eyed the direction of his meeting, before turning back and rushing toward me. Such a talker, this guy was. "Sweet, man. We should definitely meet up then. I'll see when we can find a sitter and give you a call."

_Oh…a sitter. Right. Maybe I shouldn't be scheduling things without Bella's consent. _

He must have noticed my face. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, it's just…she has two kids of her own. Twins, actually, that are a little younger than Sarah. I don't know if I should set something up without talking to her first."

His eyes lit up like a child's. "We should totally do a play date! This is so awesome. You have no idea how cool it is for me to finally find a friend who can relate about having kids." He started speed-walking to his meeting before I could respond. "I'm totally gonna give you a call soon!" he called over his shoulder.

I stood there, staring after him in shock at his statement. _Relate about having kids? _It wasn't that the thought didn't irrationally please me, but I didn't want to get ahead of myself. Bella and I were definitely not in that place yet, and I did _not_ want to freak her out before we even really began.

I shook my head and continued heading back to my class, trying to stop my thoughts from getting too carried away with possibilities.

…

My phone rang as I was driving home from work, and I smiled when I saw who it was. "Hello, missy."

"I have some moderately bad news."

"Uh-oh. What's wrong?"

"Well, I'm currently standing in about an inch of water," she paused, "and I'm in my living room."

"Oh my God, what happened?"

I heard her sigh. "I have no idea. Obviously something broke that has the capability to flood the first floor of my house."

"Wow. Are the kids with you?"

"No, thankfully. I got out of work a little early, but the twins were napping at daycare, so I figured I'd come home and get changed before picking them up and I was greeted with this." She growled out the word 'this' for good measure.

"That sucks. What are you going to do about it?"

"Well, that's kind of where the bad news comes in. I called my dad, and he called some…contractor guy or something for me, but obviously we can't stay here tonight so we're gonna crash at my dad's."

"Okay," I replied, not understanding where she was going with this.

"So because of that, everything tonight and tomorrow morning is gonna be all wonky, and then I guess the guy wants to meet me at the house midday tomorrow."

"Right. Um…not to be dense, but besides the fact that your house is flooded…what's the bad news?"

"Well, we were supposed to come over early tomorrow and spend the day with you, but with this happening and then me having to meet the guy tomorrow, I don't know how it's all going to work."

"Oh." I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice, but I don't think I did a great job.

"I mean, we could still try. Or we could do it after I meet with the guy, assuming I won't need to be there for anything else."

The wheels were turning in my head for other possibilities that could work, and one kept popping up. I was afraid to voice it to Bella, though, in fear that she'd find it weird or too forward.

She must have taken my silence as a bad thing, because she started rambling nervously. "Or…I don't know, we could still try to do the early thing before I meet the guy. The only problem with that is that my dad always hops them up on sugar and they don't go to bed until late, which means they don't wake up as early, but I guess I could just wake them –"

"Bella," I interrupted, "it's fine. I was just thinking."

"Oh," she said, sounding relieved, "about what?"

"Um…well, I might have another idea. But before I say anything, just know that it's totally okay with me if you don't want to do it, or if you don't feel right about it, or whatever. No pressure."

"_Okay_. I have no idea what you're about to say, but whatever it is, your setup is terrible."

I chuckled nervously and ran my hand through my hair. "Sorry. Anyway, uh…what if you guys stayed at my house tonight?"

There was a long pause before she spoke. "Really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I have the extra bedroom that you could stay in with the twins, and that way you wouldn't have to worry about rushing things in the morning so that we could spend time together. Plus, I could come with you to meet the guy at your house if you wanted." Now I was the one rambling. "But seriously, it's completely fine if you'd rather not. I know it's kind of a weird thing to suggest."

"No, it's…it's not weird, I just…are you sure?"

"Yeah, absolutely." I held my phone between my ear and shoulder and got out of the car, rushing into my house. "I mean, if you're okay with it, I'd love to have you guys over. We could do a movie night or something."

"Okay…yeah. That actually sounds a lot better than fighting with my dad over what to watch on TV all night."

I thankfully was able to stop myself from squealing like a little girl in excitement. "Okay. What time did you want to come over?" _Hopefully not within the next 30 minutes, or else I've got some speed-cleaning to do._

"I've still got to move some stuff around so that it's not sitting in water and getting all sicknast, and then I've got to get our things together for tonight and tomorrow and then pick up the twins, so…maybe 5:30 or 6?"

"Perfect." _2 hours. Plenty of time to de-trash my house._

"Okay. Thanks, Edward."

I smiled. "No problem at all. I'll see you guys soon."

…

At around 5:45, I heard Bella's car pulling into my driveway, so I quickly finished the last few things on the tacos (aka the only thing I know how to make decently) and washed my hands before heading into the foyer.

When I opened the front door, Brady and Lola were tugging Bella ahead insistently while she tried to slow their pace a bit.

"Calm yourselves, bugs. Jeez." When she looked up and caught my eye, her face broke out into a sweet smile. "They're a little excited about the sleepover."

I bent down and outstretched my hands, inviting them to come to me. "Not as excited as me, I bet."

"Hi, Ehwood!"

"Hi, Ehwood!" mimicked Lola. "Ma and we gonna spend da night!"

I hugged them. "Hi, anteaters. And I know. It's going to be so much fun. I even brought some toys out for you to play with. They're in the living room if you want to go see."

"Okay!" They ran past me and into the living room, and Bella walked the remaining few feet until she was in front of me.

"This is way too nice of you, you know," she said, hooking her fingers into my shirt pocket and lightly kissing my chin before stepping back.

I scoffed. "Are you kidding me? This is, like, number two on the list of things I'd pick to do tonight. Number one involves a certain actress with a name similar to yours that I'm not allowed to talk about anymore."

She flicked my cheek and I reeled back, surprised but smiling. "You need to seriously cut that shit out because I'm genuinely starting to get jealous, and I don't even really know who Isabel Lucas is." Her stern words were counteracted by the grin on her face.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "All you need to know is that she's got absolutely _no_ appeal in comparison to you."

"Oh sure, try to charm your way out of it with sweet words."

I bent down and kissed her, keeping things PG but still letting her know that I missed her. When I pulled away, she sighed and leaned into me.

"Uh-huh. Now try to charm your way out of it with sweet _kisses_."

I chuckled and kissed her again. And then again on her cheek and again on her jaw. _Because why-freakin'-not? She's _my_ girlfriend. _

When I pulled back her eyes were closed and she was smiling. "Alright, you've charmed your way out of it."

I chuckled at her adorableness. "Are you hungry?"

She opened her eyes. "That depends. If I say 'yes' are you going to call your mother over here to make us something?"

I smirked and shook my head. "Nope. I made tacos."

"Oh, sí, señor. Yo tengo mucho hambre."

"Muy bien, senorita. Vámonos." I gestured for her to walk inside.

She walked past me but grabbed my hand to drag me with. "I really, _really_ like when you speak Spanish."

"Yeah?" She nodded. "Well unfortunately that was pretty much my entire vocabulary. I _do_ know how to do the entire alphabet in sign language. Does that do anything for you?"

She giggled and kept walking until we were in the living room, and then sat down on the floor with the twins, who were knee deep in the toys I brought out.

After playing with them for a few minutes, we all sat down and ate dinner. Brady and Lola made an absolute mess trying to eat their tacos, but it was one of the cutest things ever. Every time they'd take a bite on one side, something would fall out the other side so they would move to _that_ side to take a bite, and so on and so forth.

When everyone was done, Bella and I cleaned up while the twins played and then we had piggy-back ride races in the backyard. First it was girls vs. boys, then me and Lola vs. Bella and Brady, and then Bella got on my back and the twins raced us while they held each other's hand. That one was unfair because Bella was in cahoots with the twins and kept poking my sides and kissing my neck, so in the end the twins won the race. _Best loss I've ever experienced._

Bella slid down my back. "Aw, you won, bugs! Edward's not a very good partner."

The twins giggled and I turned to Bella in shock. "Are you _kidding_ me right now?"

She smirked knowingly. "What? You were the one running."

"Yeah, but you were…distracting me." I faced the kids again. "Mommy was distracting me. It was _totally_ her fault that we lost!"

"Now, Edward, don't be such a poor sport. What's the saying, kids? It's not about who wins or loses; it's about…" she trailed off so that they could finish the well-known phrase, but Lola just stared blankly at her while Brady yawned. "Meh, they're 2 ½. I'll work on it."

"_Fine_. I guess I'll just have to get over it. But you know what would help make me happy again?"

"Ice cream?" Brady asked.

"Nope."

"A puppy?" guessed Lola.

"Nuh-uh. Some lovin'," I answered, bending down and pointing to my cheeks.

"Aw, Edward wants some smushy face, guys. Show him how good you are at it."

The twins laughed and ran over to me and then Bella took out her phone and snapped a picture of them sandwiching my face with kisses.

"Ma," called Brady, "you gots'ta, too. Ehwood likes when you smushy face him."

Bella started laughing and I grinned. "It's true. You do give good smushy face, missy."

She rolled her eyes but bent down and kissed my cheek, and then Brady and Lola's as well. Then I grabbed her phone from her and made her sit in between my legs as I kissed her right cheek and Brady and Lola kissed her left. The picture I took is pretty much my favorite thing ever, because Bella's got her face scrunched up in this adorable way and everyone looks happy.

"Alright, my loves, I think it's time to start getting ready for bed."

I stood up and brushed the grass off of my pants. "Are you giving them a bath?"

She bit her lip. "Well, I wasn't going to, but they kind of smell like tacos and I'm not sure I want to be cuddling with that all night, you know?"

"I don't blame you. Come on, I'll show you where everything is."

While she gave them a bath, I cleaned up the living room a little bit and made sure everything they would need was in the guest room. When they were done, I helped her get them out and get their pajamas on, and then we decided to set up camp on the couch with popcorn and watch a movie.

We decided to watch Megamind – which, yes, I owned and no, I wasn't ashamed of – and then settled into position with me and Bella on the ends and the twins in the middle.

Everyone was enjoying the movie, especially the parts with music that resulted in all of us getting up to have an impromptu dance party, but about half-way through the kids started dozing so we called it a night.

I led them to the room and kissed everyone's cheek goodnight, and then headed to my own room to get changed into a t-shirt and sweat pants.

It was still a little early for me to fall asleep, so I figured I'd grab my laptop from the random room and surf the web for a bit. On my way to go get it, I passed the guest room and heard whispering coming from inside. I wasn't meaning to eavesdrop, but then I heard my name and couldn't help myself.

"I like Ehwood." That was definitely Lola, and I definitely smiled.

"Yeah?" asked Bella. "Why do you like him?"

Both Brady and Lola tried to talk at the same time, but then Lola quieted down and Brady spoke. "'Cause he's funny."

Lola giggled. "Yeah, he's funny. You like him, Ma?"

I heard some movement and then Bella sighed. "I do like him. A lot. Sometimes when he's around, I get this silly feeling in my tummy like there's a bunch of butterflies in it."

The twins started laughing and my face broke out into a huge grin. "Dey make you fro up?" asked Brady.

Through the door I could hear Bella's tinkling laugh and I had to cover my mouth to stifle my own. "No, it doesn't feel like that, Brady-bug. It's a good silly feeling."

"Oh, okay."

I made myself stop listening even though I knew that I could listen to her talk to them all night. Once I grabbed my laptop, I headed back to my room, noticing on my way back that their room was quiet this time around.

…

After rolling over onto my stomach, I buried my face in the pillow and sighed, almost instantly falling back asleep.

'Almost' being the operative word, because just before slumber took over I felt a distinct pressure against my cheek, one that could only be described as a warm puff of air.

Before I could start to freak out, the memories of the previous night made their way back into my thoughts, and I suddenly had a good idea of who was breathing on my face.

I smiled and opened one eye, unsurprised by what I saw. "What are you doing, Mr. Brady?"

"Ah!" he screamed, "he waked up, Lola! Ma, he waked up!"

"Well don't just sit there," I heard Bella say from somewhere behind me, "attack!"

On her cue, Brady and Lola, who I discovered was on my other side, jumped up and hopped onto my back. I chuckled into my pillow and wiggled, trying to decide if I could flip over without knocking them off of me.

Lola screeched. "Mama, help us! He's movin'!"

"Oh no, we've gotta keep him contained. Who knows what Edward the Morning Monster might do if he's let loose!"

Before I knew what was happening, I felt the side of the bed I wasn't facing dip and then there was Bella, straddling my ass.

"Alright, I think I've got him under control, bugs. You can return to home base, now."

"Where's dat?" asked Lola, sliding off my back. Brady did the same.

"The living room. You guys go play and I'll be out there in a minute to make breakfast. Thanks for your help capturing the monster. I couldn't have done it without you, soldiers."

Brady rubbed his hands together and said "no prob" before he and Lola padded out of my room.

Once they were gone, Bella leaned down and kissed my cheek, smiling. "Good morning, Edward the Morning Monster."

I smiled and turned over, subtly moving my legs so that Bella slid down and was straddling my thighs as opposed to…_other_ places. "Hello. I thought you said you weren't a morning person?"

"I'm not, but I've been up for an hour already. You should've seen me 45 minutes ago." She paused and tipped her head to the side. "Actually, it's probably better that you didn't."

I looked over to my alarm clock and my eyes widened. "You were up at 7am?"

"Yes, sir." She smiled and saluted me, and then wiggled a little to get comfortable.

_Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! _I sat up quickly and scooted back, trying to stop the problem in its wake. _Pun intended._

When I focused back on her, she was wearing a very mischievous grin and I realized that maybe getting comfortable wasn't her sole intention. I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to rub my morning scruff against her cheek. "You are in a _very_ compromising position, missy."

She shivered against me and kissed my jaw. "Oh?"

"Uh-hmm." I felt her trying to scoot closer and had to put my hands on her legs – bare, might I add – to stop her. "Be-_la_."

She giggled and stilled herself. "Sorry. I'd get off of you but I…" she stopped abruptly and then started laughing uncontrollably, falling to the side.

I started laughing, too, even though I had no idea why. "What's so funny?"

She shook her head and continued laughing, trying to talk through it. "I…I almost…just said something that would've sounded…super inappropriate."

"What?"

She sat up and scoffed. "I am _not_ saying it now."

"Come on! You can't _not_ tell me after you've made a big deal about it." I poked her side and she squirmed.

"Fine. But I'm not gonna say it out loud. Get me a pen and some paper."

"Seriously?" Her face was stern and she nodded. I huffed and jumped out of bed to grab a pen and some paper off of my dresser and then jumped back on and gave it to her.

She talked as she wrote. "Alright, now once I give this to you you're not allowed to read it until I leave the room and you have to promise not to tease me when you come out. Capish?"

I shook my head at her antics but agreed, and then she folded it up, handed it to me, and sprinted out of the room.

I unfolded it and instantly started laughing.

_I almost said "I'd get off of you but I have to contain the monster"…_

…_I didn't mean it that way, okay? Quit judging me! _

_Now come out here and help me make some pancakes. :)_

_- Bella_

…

After we all ate breakfast and were ready for the day, Bella called the contractor and confirmed that they would meet at her house at 1 o'clock, so I suggested we go to the park beforehand.

When we arrived, the kids took off toward the sandbox with the sand toys that Bella apparently keeps in her trunk at all times, and Bella and I followed behind slowly.

"This is weird," Bella said abruptly, squeezing my hand.

"What?" I asked, furrowing my brows. "Holding hands?"

She smiled and shook her head. "No, not exactly. It's weird doing things like this," she wiggled our hands, "and this," she used her other hand to gesture to the park, "at the same time."

I narrowed my eyes a bit. "I'm not following."

She giggled. "I don't blame you. I'm not explaining it well." She paused what she was saying to sit us down in the sand next to the kids and then continued. "What I mean is that it's strange for me to do relationship things, such as holding hands, and mom things, like going to the park on Saturdays, together."

"Ah," I replied, nodding.

"That's kind of messed up, right?" She chuckled self-depreciatingly. "Most of the time those things come naturally because you usually don't have the mom thing without first having the relationship thing."

This was the first time I'd heard Bella express any sort of negative feelings about how she came to become a mother, and it made me a little sad thinking that she might keep these emotions bottled up for fear of people judging her.

She sighed. "I don't know. Obviously, I have never and will never doubt the decision I made to adopt them, but sometimes I feel like they miss out by not having that extra parent."

I picked up a stray shovel and began digging a hole. "It's not _messed up_, Bella. It's just…how things went. But I can guarantee you that they haven't missed a thing that any child with both a mother and a father would have. They are two of the most well-behaved, charming, lovable kids I've ever met, and that's all because of you. Trust me; nothing you've done has caused them to go without. You've given them everything."

A slight smile made its way onto her face as she peeked up from beneath her eyelashes. "Thank you, Edward. Okay, I guess you're right. I'll quit my complaining now."

I shoveled up some sand and poured it into her shoe.

"Dude!" she exclaimed, taking off her shoe to dump it out.

The twins and I laughed. "Plus, it's not like anyone blames you for not giving any of your many admirers the time of day. You were just waiting for the perfect option to come along." I grinned cheekily.

She rolled her eyes but couldn't contain her smile. "Maybe I should've waited a little longer," she said, and then poured some sand into my shoe.

That spurred a full-on sand-fight, and 10 minutes later, Bella and myself and the twins were walking back to the car, trailing sand, after being asked by a park worker to "please leave the premises" .

Bella huffed as she pulled the pockets out of Brady's pants to empty them of sand. "I can't believe you got us kicked out of the park."

"Yeah, Ehwood."

"Yeah, Ehwood!"

"What? That was not all my fault. And we were all having fun before he asked us to leave."

She flipped her hair over and began shaking it out while she spoke. "Not your fault? Who poured the sand in my shoe first? Huh?"

"Alright, that's enough from you, missy." I gently squeezed her side and she squeaked and stood up, smiling.

"I mad at you, Ehwood," said Lola, before strutting over to me and pinching my leg.

At first I was shocked, but then I had a really hard time trying to keep a straight face when I looked down at Lola and saw her pouting with her arms crossed over her chest. _Just like her mother._

Bella, however, wasn't as forgiving. "Lola Emily Swan, what did you just do?"

Brady watched on in fascination, probably glad it wasn't him getting reprimanded, as Lola stomped her foot and scrunched up her eyebrows. "But I don't wanna leave!"

"That's not what I asked." _Is it wrong that I'm really enjoying this stern side of Bella?_

She uncrossed her arms and sighed. "I pinched Ehwood's leg."

Bella nodded. "And why would you do that?"

Lola's anger started to fade and her voice became quieter. "I dunno. I's mad."

"It's okay to be mad, bug, but it is _not_ okay to do things that hurt other people. Do you understand?"

Her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes filled with tears. "Yes."

"What should you say to Edward?"

She shuffled over to me and I bent down so that we were face-to-face. "Sorry, Ehwood." She threw her arms around me and buried her face in my neck.

I rubbed her back for a few seconds and then pulled back, kissing her cheek. "It's alright, anteater. I forgive you. And I'm sorry I got us kicked out of the park." I looked up and playfully glared at Bella. "I promise to behave next time."

"Mmkay."

Bella bent down next to us and gently turned Lola around to wipe the tears off of her cheeks. "Thank you for apologizing. Now, I think we all should shake like doggies to get this sand off of us and then do an early lunch at McDonalds. What do you think?"

Lola and Brady both enthusiastically agreed and began to shake wildly and Bella stood up and wrapped her arms around my middle.

"Sorry about that. She's feisty at times."

I chuckled and hugged her closer. "Nah, don't worry about it. I do expect a full-body massage from you in retribution, though, since you're the reason she blamed me," I joked.

She slowly walked her fingers up my spine and kissed my chin, then moved to whisper in my ear. "A _full_ body massage?"

_Holy insinuation! _I choked on…something, and then cleared my throat. "Um…we should get going if we want to give them any time to play on the structure before we have to meet the contractor."

She smiled knowingly and hummed as she kissed my once more. "Okay. Let's go."

…

In the car after McDonalds the twins fell asleep, so when we got to Bella's house, I stayed in the car with them while Bella got out to talk with the guy.

After several minutes of watching her nod every few seconds through the windshield, she motioned for him to wait and turned around to head back toward me.

As she approached, I opened my door and stood up. "What's up? What did he say?"

She pursed her lips and then sighed. "I have no idea. It was like he was talking to me in German."

I laughed at her and shook my head. "You're adorable. Would you like me to speak with him?"

She grinned. "Yes, please."

So then I went to talk to him, and after hearing the gist of it, I learned that everything would be covered under Bella's insurance and that he could be finished with everything my tomorrow afternoon.

On my way back to the car to tell her, I noticed Bella talking on her cell phone with her hand covering her mouth. As I got closer, I could see that she wasn't just talking; she was crying.

I kneeled down next to where she was sitting in the car and gave her the _Is everything okay? _look.

She nodded and waved me off, and then finished her conversation. "Okay. We'll see you soon. Love you." She hung up the phone and smiled at me through her tears.

"What's going on, missy? Why are you crying?"

"Sorry, I'm fine. Happy tears. That was Em calling to tell me that Rose is finally pregnant. They've been trying so hard and my brother's finally going to be a dad!" She squealed and wiggled her feet in excitement. "And I'm gonna be an aunt! And the kids are gonna have a cousin!"

I laughed at how happy she was. "Congratulations. That's great Bella."

"I know! Gah, I can't wait for them." She calmed herself down minutely and grabbed my hands. "Anyway, what'd the guy say?"

"Basically that it's all covered and they'll be done by tomorrow."

"Awesome! I figured that it'd take at least another night and since my brother is happy to finally be able to tell someone, he wants us to spend tonight at his and Rose's so that he can brag some more. Would you be okay if we cut today a little short?"

"Of course. After you get what you need you can just drop me off at my place on the way."

She hugged me and then pulled back to do this cute this happy dance. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be right back and then we can go."

After she ran inside and got more things for them to spend a second night away, we headed to my house to drop me off since we were in Bella's car.

Once there, I got out and walked around to give the twins a kiss goodbye and then bent down at Bella's window to kiss her.

Her enthusiasm was obvious, and she pulled me down further and deepened it almost instantly. When we were both gasping for air, I pulled away and she reached up and tapped under my chin.

"Bye. Thanks for last night and today. We had so much fun. I'll call you tonight, okay?"

I smiled. "Okay. Bye."

After she pulled away, I immediately felt like something was missing, but I knew that I'd see them again soon.

To keep myself busy, I started a load of laundry and went about the rest of my day doing meaningless tasks that I've been saying I'd get done for a while but haven't.

At around 8:00 that night, the ringing of my cell phone jerked me out of the daze I was in from tuning my piano, and I smiled when I realized that it was probably Bella calling to say good night.

Heading into the kitchen to answer it, I looked down at the caller ID and my eyes grew wide at what I saw.

_Tanya._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Ewwwwwww. Sorry about that. Just have a little faith in our Edward and remember that I'd never string you along for what-amount-of-chapters and not give you a HEA.

Okay, so I've been doing some extensive outlining for the story and came across a small error I made early on in relation to Bella's age. I doubt anyone else would ever notice it besides me, but I'm a little OCD, so I had to change it and let you all know.

Originally I had written in chapter 7 that Bella met the kids' bio mom when she was almost 19, and then they were born the February after she turned 19 (her b-day's in September). Well…that was wrong. So, basically, here's all you need (and I use the word loosely) to know:

Bella was almost _20_ when she met the kids' bio mom, and 20 when they were born.

The twins are a little over 2 ½ years old in present time (~ beginning of October) and will turn 3 in February.

And just 'cause, in case you want to know, Edward's b-day is canon (June 20th) and he is currently 24.

Anyway, the changes were minor and only needed in chapter 7. If anyone has any questions regarding this or anything else related to anyone's age, let me know via review or PM and I'll get them answered.

Phew! Now let me know what you think in the reviews! (I have a feeling that I'm going to be getting a lot of "stupid Tanya!"s and even more "He better not answer it!"s.


	16. Sexy Talk and Sexy Time

**A/N**: I'm just gonna jump right into the excuses, if you don't mind: Sorry, friends. I had a break and then I was reading a lot and my brain just went in the opposite direction of this story for a bit. The next update WILL NOT take as long. That's a promise.

Thanks to **rosellebec **for going above and beyond in her prereading duties and for offering endless support when my inspiration meter was measuring out at zero. :)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16 – Sexy Talk and Sexy Time<strong>

**Bella**

"I just can't believe that Em was able to keep his mouth shut that long. It's completely out of character for him."

Rose quirked her eyebrow and smiled. "It actually wasn't that hard to convince him to comply. I just threatened to remove his _character_ with a pair of dull scissors if he told anyone before I was ready." Alice and I laughed and then Rose grew more serious. "I did feel bad, though. The minute we found out about it, he wanted to call you. I've just been wary, you know? I was so afraid that something would go wrong."

"I get it, Rose, and I promise there are no hard feelings. I'm just so happy for you guys. _And_ for the fact that this kid is gonna have a kickass aunt." I grinned and took a bite of my lunch.

"I can't argue with that," she replied, her smile genuine.

"Well, I for one am not happy," Alice chimed in. "You both are making me feel like a jealous old hag, and I'm not even 25! I can't believe that I'm going to be the only one without a kid now."

Rose laughed. "You could always change that. All you need is a safety pin and a few strategically poked holes, if you know what I mean."

We all snickered and Alice nodded. "Very true. Although, ideally, I'd like Jasper and I to have longer than 9 months to bone before ruining my sex life, because God knows neither of us will wanna do it for a while after the massacre that is childbirth happens down there."

I snorted and covered my face in bewilderment of her words. "First off, Ally, bone? Really? And second of all…you're right. I've seen it firsthand and it is a massacre among massacres. There's blood and a few other bodily fluids flying everywhere. It's not pretty."

"Gah, guys, come on! I still have 6 months left to obsess over this. I'd like to keep living in my fantasy world where I imagine that I don't gain more than 10 pounds and that a stork magically poofs the baby out at the end."

Alice set down her sandwich and grew serious. "Alright, then. I call for a change of topic. Actually, it's not really a change considering we were just talking about boning…" She trailed off purposefully and gave me what I call her 'mischievous eyes'.

I immediately turned red and looked down at my food. "_Alice,_" I whined.

"No, it's not just her. I'm actually curious about this as well," Rose added. _Traitor!_

"About what? Nothing's happened yet, and even if it had, since when is this subject something that I'm comfortable discussing?"

"What are you talking about? We talk about sex all the time," Alice disagreed.

"No, _you_ talk about _you_ having sex all the time. I'm just an unfortunate bystander who is forced to listen. Outside of me telling you when I lost my virginity, which I still regret doing, I've never been one to disclose that information willingly."

Alice shrugged. "Well, I don't know. It's been about a billion years since you've gotten any; I figured maybe you might have changed your ways."

Alice and Rose laughed at my expense and I flicked them off for good measure. "Very funny. Just for that, I'm not going to tell you when Edward and I have sex. So there," I added childishly.

"Seriously though, Bella," Rose began, "it's been, what, four weeks since you guys have been together?"

"Five," I muttered.

"_Five_ weeks and the most you have to show for it is a little hickey on the side of your neck."

My hand flew to my neck. "Fuck, really? Is it super noticeable? I have to go back to work after this!"

Alice held up her hand to stop me from freaking out. "Chill, chica. You can barely see it. Back to the point: what we're asking is, why? Is there a reason nothing's happened yet?" Her eyes grew wide. "Do you think he's…?" She held up her thumb and pointer finger close together.

I smacked her hand away and scowled. "No, he's not! Just…shut up. I don't want to talk about this."

"But do you know for sure, Bella? Like, _really_ know?"

"Yes, I know! We haven't had sex but we've done _stuff_, and I just..._know_, okay? I know." Unfortunately my voice raised a few decibels during that speech and now people were staring at us.

Alice's eyes grew wide. "Like, under the clothes type stuff?"

"No, but..." I trailed off. How was I supposed to say that I could tell, even over top of clothes, from the few occasions where things got..._exciting..._that he definitely has no issues in that department? That would get Alice even more riled up. "Trust me, okay?"

Rose chuckled. "Alright, calm down now. We'll stop talking about your sex life. _Or lack thereof_..." I huffed in response and she and Alice giggled. "But tell us what you _have_ been doing. Not the sexy stuff, but the other fun stuff that comes with new relationships."

_This I can do._ I shrugged, but couldn't help my smile from appearing. "We've just been hanging out a lot and getting to know each other. He's so nice, and considerate, and funny, and he never questions the weird things I do, and sometimes he gets adorably shy and rambles and then other times he's obnoxiously confident and a complete smartass, but an oddly tolerable one. He's so, _so_ great with the twins and they are completely infatuated with him, and…I don't know. I really like him."

Alice smiled and hugged my arm. "I'm really glad, Bella. I know I tease you, but I'm happy that you've found someone who's nice and who cares enough to feel things out before jumping your hot ass."

"Likewise," I replied, referring to Jasper. I smiled and shook my head. "And you know, it's not like all we do is play with my kids and eat meals together," I defended. "Things have gotten heated, but it's hard with the twins always being with us. Not that either of us doesn't want them there, but you know what I'm saying. The few times that we have had alone were only long enough for some sexual innuendos and a lot of making out. "

"So what you're saying is that you _do_ want to have sex with Edward?" asked Alice.

"What I'm saying is that I don't _not_ want to have sex with Edward."

"Well then I have the perfect solution for you!" Rose exclaimed. "How about Emmett and I keep the twins overnight on Friday? That will give you plenty of time to seal the deal."

I cringed. "Ugh, no. Then it would be all weird when I come to pick them up because you'd know I had just had sex and you'd get that 'you just had sex' look and then Emmett would notice and it'd get even more uncomfortable."

"Okay, first, you're seriously over thinking this, second, I promise you I won't act weird, and third, you're giving your brother way too much credit if you think he'd notice something like that."

I bit my lip to mull it over for a few seconds.

"Come on, Bella. Take her up on this. You guys need some time to connect without having to worry about getting interrupted by your crazy kids."

I chuckled and sighed. "I'll think about it. Let me talk to Edward first and see if he's even free."

Alice raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Oh, he'll be free. Trust me."

_Damn little pixie…_

…

"Are you sure you don't need help, hot stuff?" Edward asked, coming up behind me to wrap his arms around my front and kiss my cheek.

I giggled at his ridiculous nickname and laid my head back against his shoulder. "I'm sure. I just need to finish the main part of the poster tonight and then I can add the little details tomorrow while the kids are napping. You've done enough by keeping them entertained for me."

"Okay, if you're sure." He squeezed my sides lightly and then walked back over to help the twins finish their own art project on the table. "So are you always the person who's responsible for making the display posters at the store?"

"No," I said, gluing on another letter, "but the girl that quit a few weeks ago was, and the new hire claims that if he were to do it people would be more repulsed by it than attracted."

"Was apulsed mean, Ma?" Lola asked.

"_Repulsed_ means to be disgusted or grossed out by something," I explained.

"Oh," she said with a thoughtful look on her face. "I apulsed from Grapaw's feet."

Edward and I burst out laughing and Lola smiled in satisfaction that she amused us, even if she had no idea why.

Edward put his hand up for a high-five and Lola smacked it. "Great job using a new word in a sentence, sweetie. I don't think some of my 3rd graders could have done that yet."

"What can I say? She's pretty much a genius," I replied proudly, while simultaneously reeling on the inside that Edward called her 'sweetie'. His nicknames for us were becoming more common and every one was said with obvious affection in his voice.

Brady lifted up his paper. "I done wit my picture."

I looked at the clock and noticed that it was getting close to their bedtime. "That looks awesome, Brady-bug. I'm almost finished here and then we'll get jammies on, okay?"

Edward stood up and started to clean up the table of art supplies. "I'll get their jammies on."

"That's nice, but you don't have to. I'm almost done."

He grinned at me while continuing to clean up. "I know I don't _have_ to, missy. I _want_ to. Plus, I've gotta take stock of what type of PJs you're buying them. I'm going to have to do some serious shopping if I see that Brady has more Batman than Spiderman in his closet."

"I can already tell you that he does."

"Travesty!" he exclaimed, and then he picked up the giggling twins and ran up the stairs with them.

_What a goofball._

…

After Edward got them ready and then helped me put them to bed, we walked back into the kitchen and I hopped onto the counter, contemplating how I was going to bring up Rose's Friday plans.

Edward walked closer and stood between my legs. "I really like these," he said, poking the reading glasses that I still had on from when I was working on the poster.

"You dig nerdy?"

He smiled and wrapped his arms around my waist. "I dig nerdy _Bella_."

I giggled and kissed him once. "I don't know that nerdy has ever been a quality of mine. I didn't even finish college."

He pulled back a bit with a curious expression. "I didn't know you went to college."

I shrugged and looked down, a little embarrassed by my lack of education. "After high school, I took a semester off to work and save money, and then I enrolled in community college to get my pre-reqs out of the way. I had just finished up my first year a few months before the twins were born."

"Huh," he replied, moving to hop on the counter next to me. "Do you ever think about going back to get a degree?"

I twisted so that my legs were in his lap and then leaned back against the side of the fridge. "I don't know. I originally planned to transfer to UDub to graduate, but I wouldn't do that now. It's too far away."

He nodded. "What about going back to community college to get your Associate's degree?"

"Maybe. Sometimes I play with the idea of enrolling part-time. Not until the kids are a little older, though."

He hummed thoughtfully and leaned forward to kiss my shoulder. "I think you'd like that."

I reached up and tapped lightly under his chin. "Hey, what are you doing Friday?"

"Very important things. Why?"

I smiled at his sarcasm. "Um…the twins are spending the night with Emmett and Rosalie. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out."

He didn't say anything for what felt like forever, but then he pecked my lips and said, "Yeah. That sounds great."

I felt my shoulders relax in relief that the asking part was at least over. "Okay."

"You want me to make reservations in Port Angeles?"

"Sure. We could do that."

He kissed my cheek one more time and then leaned back fully. "Alright, I'll call tomorrow. I should probably head home, though. I've gotta be at work early tomorrow to prepare for conferences."

We both hoped off of the counter and I walked him to the door.

…

I got off of work a little early on Friday so that I could spend some quality time with Brady and Lola before I dropped them off at Emmett's. I felt a little strange leaving them since this would only be the second night they'd spent away from me, but they were jumping off the walls in excitement so I wasn't too worried.

When I walked inside their house, Rose stopped in her tracks and whistled. "_Damn_, girl. You look good."

"You don't think it's too much?" I chose to wear a snug, dark blue dress that ended about mid-thigh and heels, and then I left my hair down but put in some loose curls.

"Not at all. She's a sexy mamasita, huh, guys?"

The twins nodded absently and ran off to play.

"Hey, hey, hey. Slow down, trouble twins," I heard Emmett say from from the hall. "Give your uncle some love." After a few seconds he walked in, sans Brady and Lola, and put his arm around Rose. "Hey, B. What are you all dressed up for?"

"Edward and I are going out. Thanks for keeping the kids, by the way."

"Absolutely. Although, I hope you know that when the little one's born," he patted Rose's stomach, "we fully expect the favor to be returned."

Rose smacked his chest. "God, Em. It's not even here yet and you're already making plans to send it off?"

"I'm just kidding, jeez." He walked over and kissed my cheek. "You look beautiful, baby sis. Have fun tonight."

"Thanks," I replied, smiling.

After leaving, I drove straight to Edward's because he had parent/teacher conferences after school and would have to run home to get ready, so we planned to leave from his house.

When I got there, I walked right in (per his request) and headed to find him. "Edward?"

"Bella?" I heard him call from the hallway.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you ready to go?"

I heard some shuffling and then Edward rushed out of the hallway with his toothbrush hanging from his mouth and a towel around his waist. _Well hello, wet naked chest. _Very_ nice to see you._

I tried to keep my ogling to a minimum and cleared my throat. "What's going on? Am I early?" I pulled out my cell phone to confirm what time it was. _Nope, 7:10. I'm actually a little late._

"No, no, you're not. I'm so sorry. I'm just running really behind. The last parent conference went an hour over the allotted time and I couldn't just kick them out. I kept dropping hints left and right but they would _not_ shut up."

"Oh, that's okay. Don't worry about it."

"I tried to call you to give you a heads up, but I dropped my phone in a puddle running to the parking lot and had to pull the battery out to let it dry." After he finished talking, he went back to brushing his teeth while he waited for my response.

I walked closer to him and pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth, smiling. "Hey, why don't you slow down and we can just hang out here instead?"

"No, it's fine. We can still make our reservation if I hurry."

"Yeah, maybe. But why rush when we don't have to? This way you'll have time to chill out a little and I can just make dinner."

He sighed. "But…are you sure? I mean, you got all ready to go out and you look…" he scanned down my body for the first time and his eyes grew wide, "…_amazing._ I don't want you to be disappointed if we don't go."

"Thank you. And I promise you I'm not disappointed. I'm actually pretty excited at the prospect of being able to take off these shoes." I tapped the heel of my shoe against the floor and smirked at him.

He looked unsure but then sighed again. "Okay. If you promise you don't mind…"

"I don't mind." I stepped closer, setting my hand against his bare chest as I kissed once under his chin. "Now, go get dressed, mister. I can't bear to look at you without a shirt on any longer."

He laughed and stepped back. "Whatever. Don't think I didn't catch you checking me out." I bit my lip and turned around, quickly walking back into the living room to avoid answering him. "Admit it, woman!" he yelled to my retreating form.

"You're delusional!"

…

When Edward emerged from his room 20 minutes later, I had already made the salad and was almost finished with the homemade mac and cheese. He didn't have a ton of food to work with, but I made do and I thought everything looked pretty delicious, considering. _Especially Edward when he walked into the kitchen._

"How do you always manage to find something in my cupboards and turn it into an actual, non-microwavable meal?"

I laughed. "I don't know. Years of living with two men that eat everything in the house, I guess. I learned the importance of scrounging."

He walked up to me and stopped the stirring I was doing by putting his hand over mine. "Can I give you a proper hello now?"

I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck and he leaned forward, brushing his lips against mine. I felt his tongue make its way across my lower lip and then slowly slide into my mouth, causing an involuntary shiver ran down my spine.

"Hello," he said once he pulled away.

"Hello." I let my head fall into his neck and inhaled. "You smell _really_ good." I couldn't help myself from kissing the area that I just smelled and his response was to push into me with his lower body. "Are you ready to eat?" I whispered against his neck, and then bit it gently just to be playful. _And hopefully drive him a little crazy. _

He growled lowly and stepped back with a look that suggested I should stop what I was doing if we wanted to get any real eating done. "Yes. Let's eat."

"I was trying to."

He rubbed his face and then motioned for me to spin around and head to the table, and I giggled and complied.

Dinner was a simple affair. We mostly talked about what we did that day. He told me about the mother who pinched his ass and smirked before following her husband out of the room, and I teased him about it mercilessly and accused him of leading her on.

"I did _not_," he defended, and I raised my eyebrow jokingly. "I didn't! All we did was talk about her son the whole time. I barely even looked at her because every time I did she'd wink."

"So you were playing hard to get, huh?"

He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Yeah, whatever. And on top of that, somehow word got to her that I play piano and she asked if I'd be willing to give her son lessons every week."

"That's actually pretty cool. What'd you say?"

"I told her that I'm really busy right now but that I'd think about it and get back to her. Normally I'd jump at the chance because Jack is a great kid and I've wanted to get into teaching piano, but I'm not so sure having to deal with her every time she picks him up and drops him off would be worth it."

I nodded absently and continued eating. I imagined what it'd be like to watch Edward play piano, or to watch him teach Brady or Lola to play when they get a little bit older, and the images made me irrationally happy.

"Why are you smiling?"

I jerked my head toward him and felt my face grow a little hot. I hadn't realized that I was smiling until he pointed it out. "Oh, I was just…I kind of want to watch you play."

It was his turn to blush. He scratched the back of his neck and smiled. "You can, if you want to."

My face lit up. "Right now?"

"I…I guess. I mean, finish eating first."

I jumped out of my seat and went to grab his hand. "I'm done. Let's go."

He chuckled at my eagerness but agreed and led me into the hallway toward the room with his piano. Once in the room, he dropped my hand and walked over to the piano, sitting down on the bench.

I stayed where he left me by the door wondering where I was supposed to go. Why this was making me nervous, I had no idea, but it was.

"What are you doing?" he asked, peeking over his shoulder and grinning.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Where am I supposed to go?"

"Well, you could keep fidgeting there by the door, or you could come here and sit next to me on the bench. Whichever you prefer."

I pretended to think it over. "I _am_ a pretty fantastic fidgeter."

"That's not a word, silly girl. Come here." He crooked his finger at me and I finally walked over to him. Once I was sitting on the bench and his side was touching mine, my nerves calmed a little. He looked over at me and smiled and I couldn't make myself look away from his face as he began the first notes of...Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?

He finished the 10-second song and then looked up expectantly and I furrowed my brows. "Seriously?"

He started laughing and bumped my shoulder. "No, not seriously." He took a deep breath and blew it out and then began playing, for real this time.

His playful mood created one of my own, though, so before he could really get going on the song I flicked one of his fingers off of the key it was on. He chuckled, starting over and this time I played a few notes on my side that were completely out of synch with his.

He huffed and turned towards me. "Isabella Swan, do you want me to make magic happen or not?"

I laughed at him and then grew mock serious, scrunching up my eyebrows. "Yes, I do. So quit messing around and get to it, mister." I adjusted myself so that I was sitting on my knees and kissed him once on the cheek before settling back to my side.

He smiled, shaking his head, and then started playing, and it really _was_ magic.

His eyes were closed and his back was straight and his fingers caressed the keys flawlessly. I could feel the vibrations from the piano running through me; every low note slowed my heart down and every high one sped it right back up again.

I let my eyelids flutter closed and began putting pictures to the unhurried, beautiful music he was creating. Unsurprisingly, all of the images my brain was generating involved Edward: him sitting on the bench in the park that first day I met him and watching him walk up to me with that adorable half-grin; the way he laughed when he caught me dancing in the kitchen and the way he cried when he first heard the story of the twins' adoption; how his face lights up whenever he sees me, Brady, and Lola after even a small absence.

Then the song took on a darker, sultrier tone and the pictures in my head followed suit: the face he makes, all calm and peaceful, whenever I kiss just under his chin; the way his head falls into my neck every time I reach around and run my fingers through the hair on the back of his head; how he looked hovering over me on his couch with his forearms making a cage around my head and his legs tangled with mine.

As the song was coming to an end I realized that my breathing had become heavier and I was clutching my knees so hard that my knuckles were turning white.

I was completely and indisputably, one-hundred percent turned on.

After he was finished I felt him shift on the bench but I kept my eyes closed, half of me afraid of what I'd do if I opened them and half of me really, _really_ wanting to open them.

"Bella?"

"Hm?"

I felt his hand on my cheek and chanced opening my eyes. The look in his eyes could only be described as intense. "What'd you think?"

I lifted up higher on my knees and let my mouth hover right over top of his. "I liked it. A lot."

He was quick to close the distance, and it only took about 30 seconds for things to go from slow and sweet to fast and frenzied. I ended up straddling him on the bench and he was running his hands up and down my exposed thighs methodically.

He pulled away gently and began a slow ascent of kisses, starting from right above the top of my dress and ending at the spot just below my ear. It felt so good that I could barely stand it, and then when he lightly bit my earlobe I literally lost all sense of self-control and bucked against him roughly.

Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for that, and in my lapse of self-control I accidentally threw us off of the careful balance we had been maintaining on the piano bench.

"Holy fuck!" I screeched as he fell backwards onto the floor, bringing me with him. Our ending positions were nothing short of comical: Edward, lying on his back with his legs propped on the bench and me, a leg on each side of him bracing myself with my forearms next to his head.

"That," he breathed, "was highly dangerous. Were you trying to kill me, missy?"

I let out a breathy giggle and pushed back so that I was essentially sitting on his torso. "Are you okay? Your heart's beating a mile a minute." I could tell because my hand was resting over top of it.

He wiggled around until he was able to kick off of the bench and sit up, causing me to slide down and into his lap. "It was doing that before we fell," he said with a smirk. "But yes, I'm okay. You?"

The combination of his smirk and the fact that I was sitting _directly_ on a part of him that I had yet to be closely acquainted with made me lose focus, so instead of answering I kissed him.

He responded right away and we picked up seamlessly from where we left off before the Great Piano Bench Fall of 2011, as I began to call it in my head.

After a few more minutes, though, I could feel an achiness starting to creep into my knees where they landed on the floor and I knew that were going to bruise tomorrow. _I can only imagine what Rose and Alice will think. _Using amazing self-restraint, I pulled away with a sigh.

Edward looked momentarily confused. "What's wrong?"

"I can't do this."

"Oh." His face instantly registered hurt and he started to scoot back to separate us.

I clutched his shirt and shook my head quickly. "No, no. That was worded badly. I meant that I can't do this _here_, on the floor. My knees are starting to hurt."

I immediately had to suppress the urge to say '_That's what she said'_, and was surprised to find Edward with a look on his face suggesting he was doing the same. With matching grins, he lifted me up by my waist so that I could stand and then followed suit right after.

Once we were both standing, things started to get slightly awkward. I could tell that Edward was still grappling with my earlier comment even though I told him I didn't mean it that way, so I mustered up as much confidence as I could, grabbed his hand, smiled, and then sauntered out the door and in the direction of his room, pulling him along.

I could feel his eyes on me as I continued walking and it was driving me crazy, so the moment we stepped in his room I whipped around and attacked him against the door. I ran my hands through his freshly washed hair and he inched his fingers down my spine, pressing me tightly against him and yet I still didn't feel close enough.

When my need to make love to his mouth was sufficiently satisfied, I pulled away breathlessly and began unbuttoning his shirt. Once off, the floodgates opened and we took turns stripping each other of our clothes, torturing the other in any way we could. Him running his lips over my shoulder as he pulled the straps of my dress down, me sliding my fingers along the tip of his boxers at an agonizingly slow pace.

"Bella," he growled, "you're…I need…"

Predictably, once my fingers were no longer at the tip of his boxers but _inside_ them, he lost his train of thought.

When there was nothing left but hands and lips and skin and raging hormones left between us, he walked us backwards and followed me closely as I inched across the bed.

Once we were settled, there was a moment of silence and then he spoke, quiet and intense. "Bella…you're pretty much everything I could have ever hoped for." He looked away self-consciously and chuckled. "I know that sounds like a horrible pick-up line, but I…I honestly don't know how I got lucky enough to..." he sighed, "to be someone you would want to be with."

I stared at him, wondering in awe how he could come up with such thoughtful, sweet words when I was literally almost to the point of forgetting what day it was.

Instead of ruining the moment with my stuttering, incomprehensible thoughts, I chose to wrap my arms around his neck and show him how much he meant to me with every part of my being.

…

I could feel the sunlight shining in through the window and turned my head away from it and into Edward's neck. I was just about to fall back asleep when I felt Edward reaching under the bottom of my (or his, I guess) shirt and ghosting the tip of his nail across my stomach. "_Edward_," I whined, "stop it. That tickles." I wiggled but his nail kept crawling up along my torso.

He shifted a little so that his head was closer to mine and then hummed lazily. "Stop what?"

I rolled my eyes even though I knew he wouldn't see it because, you know, they were still closed. "Whatever you're doing with your finger on my stomach. I wanna _sleeeeeeep_."

His voice was rough and sleep-filled when he finally answered. "Bella, my finger is nowhere near your stomach."

"What? Oh my God!" I flung the covers off of me and jumped out of the bed screaming. "Is it a spider? What is it? Is it a spider? It better not be a fucking spider! Kill the spider, Edward! Kill it!"

I finally stopped bouncing around and looked back at Edward, who was holding back a laugh and had one single finger hanging precariously over the spot that I had just vacated.

My jaw dropped and he busted out laughing. "You asshole! I…you…I was so comfortable and you just…and now I'm all…" I trailed off, realizing that I wasn't making sense and that he couldn't hear me over his guffaws anyway. Instead, I stood there with a scowl on my face until his laughter died off.

"Okay. I'm half sorry but half not because whatever you just did right there was one of the cutest things I've ever seen."

I had to work hard to suppress my smile because _damn it_ he's adorable but he was _not_ getting away with this. "I do not accept your half-assed apology. And good luck getting me to spend the night ever again, because if there's one thing I don't tolerate it's people messing with my sleep. Not even a scruffy, sexy Edward in just his boxers."

He climbed out of bed and walked over to me, wrapping his warm arms around my body and pulling me tight against him. "Forgive me?" I shook my head stubbornly. "If I had known that I was risking the opportunity to cuddle you all night I never would have done it."

With that I was adequately charmed and lifted up on my tiptoes to kiss along his jaw. "Fine. You're forgiven, but don't let it happen again." I grabbed his hands that were on my sides and interlaced our fingers, grinning up at him. Now that my sleepiness had worn off, I couldn't deny that I was positively giddy this morning.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" he asked, burying his face in my neck and sucking on the skin above my pulse point.

My breath hitched and I squeezed his hands. "No. We have to…I gotta get ready so I can go pick-up the twins." I moaned when I felt him growing hard against my stomach. "Um…can I use your shower?"

He shook his head against my neck and continued his assault on my skin while one of his hands began unbuttoning the bottom of my shirt. "No, ma'am."

My head lulled to the side and my forehead fell against his chest. "Can _we_ use your shower?"

This time he nodded and reached around me, gripping the back of my thighs and lifting me off the ground. I squeaked a little and then his mouth was on mine and he was walking us to his adjoining bathroom and I didn't want to assume, but I was pretty sure that he was pretty giddy himself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So hey. *awkward pause* I know a lot of you are wondering about the whole Tanya call thing, but that will be explored in the next chapter. Was this okay as a distraction at least?

Second order of business: I want every single one of you to stop what you're doing and go read camoozle's fic titled **Water Landing**, because it's fucking awesome, and partly the reason for why it took me so long to update because I've been reading the shit out of it. Like, multiple times and everything. I'm a tad obsessed. And before you get squirrely and immediately decide not to read it because it doesn't specify a couple, know that it IS Edward and Bella and that I wouldn't rec it to you if it weren't awesomesauce.

I'm sending my love to each and every one of you, so open your windows in 3-5 days so that you can receive it.


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